Fear
by Bookboy12
Summary: It's been seventeen months since all the adults disappeared. There. Gone. No "poof." No flash of light. Just . . . Gone. As everybody thinks the FAYZ is finally becoming peaceful, it gets just as bad as ever. Please, comment/review.
1. ONE

**ONE**

74 hours, 59 minutes

**What Orsay **Pettijohn hated the most was the pain. The terrible, horrible, unendurable pain. The pain that was in her stomach because she had not eaten in what seemed like years. The burning in her throat from when her best "friend," Nerezza, had tried to choke her to death.

She no longer felt those types of pain anymore since they had died out long ago. However, her anger still remained. No matter how many months ago it was, Orsay was still furious. Furious that she had survived a near-death-experienced, only to return to Perdido Beach and get kicked out in an instant.

Caine Soren, the proclaimed King of Perdido Beach, had lectured her, stating that nobody wanted a girl who lied about what was on the outside of the FAYZ wall to live along with them.

So she was forced to leave Perdido Beach and go to Lake Tramonto, where the brave and imperfect Sam Temple resided. Sam and the other people that lived at Lake Tramonto with him had welcomed her back, happy that she was alive.

She remembered being confused why Caine Soren was king and why the FAYZ was split into two, one half living at Lake Tramonto and the other half living in Perdido Beach. Sam had informed her about what had happened with Zil and his human crew, how Mary Terrafino took the big one-five, about the plague that had hit.

_Wow_, she remembered thinking._ I sure did miss out on a lot of things._

All of the things were mostly tragic, but, most of all, the one that broke her heart was Mother Mary accepting her disappearance. Mother Mary had been perhaps one of the most important people in the FAYZ. She had taken care of all the littles and had been the hardest-working person she had ever known.

Though there was hardly any good news in the FAYZ, Orsay was glad that the scars on her neck were finally going away from Nerezza's choking, thanks to Lana Arwen Lazar, a girl she was grateful for. The Healer. That was what they called her.

When Orsay had been healed by Lana, she first thought she wanted revenge. So she went around the FAYZ, asking everybody if they knew where Nerezza was. Sadly, every person told her that Nerezza just . . . Disappeared the day that Mary took the jump.

All of these thoughts, complicated thoughts, and all of these problems, especially the fact that Diana Ladris was pregnant by Caine Soren, filled Orsay's mind as she walked in the Stefano Rey National Park.

There weren't too many people that hung out here, so that was the reason she came. The infamous people were here, usually ones without powers. The ones that weren't "freaks." All the important people like Sam Temple and Albert Hillsborough were never here.

What looked to be a gothic girl, who Orsay could easily identify as Sinder, was sitting at the park bench next to the playground. Orsay always sat at that park bench, but she didn't say anything because she didn't want to be rude.

"Hey, Sinder, do you mind if I take a seat here?" Orsay asked.

"Sure, sure," Sinder agreed. "No problem. So what's been up lately, Orsay?"

That was question Orsay didn't want to reply to, but did anyway because Sinder was a nice girl. "Still trying to look for Nerezza."

Sinder nodded in agreement. "Yeah. She was pretty cruel. She had been planning to take over the FAYZ. And then she almost killed you . . . That's probably why you want to get your hands on her."

Orsay touched her scarred neck. "See that? Nerezza did that to me. Her fingernails went into my neck so deep that blood was gushing out. Afterwards, they were just gashes. Thanks to Lana, the scars are becoming a lot less noticeable."

"That's good."

There was a long silence as the two girls just stared at the park where the kids were playing. John Terrafino was looking worried, having to keep up with every kid. He took over after his sister, Mary, disappeared. Now there was a lot of pressure on him.

Laughs filled the cool air as the children danced everywhere. Sinder and Orsay watched them, interested at their performances. That was one thing the two girls had in common: they had a good patience for anything and were easily fascinated. And, although they didn't know it, they had a lot in common.

"Yeah, well, I would take those scars if I could have Roscoe back," Sinder said, breaking into a sob. Orsay scooted closer to her, wrapping her arms around Sinder in a comforting gesture.

"I know," Orsay agreed. "I'm sure if my brother were to have died by a plague, I would take these scratches, too."

Sinder hugged Orsay back, something that was strange for the girl: she was unpopular, and she never showed any emotion whatsoever. And, even though she did give Orsay a hug, Sinder didn't cry like a normal person would when talking about a brother who was eaten from the inside-out by what was nicknamed as "Greenies."

Orsay sighed, patting Sinder's back. "You know, Sinder, I don't have too many friends here in the FAYZ because they all think that I am full of crap. But, out of the few who don't think bad of me, and are my friends, I would say you are my favorite."

"So that would mean I am your best friend?" Sinder inquired.

"Yes," Orsay replied, feeling sort of awkward. "I guess so."

"This is going to sound even more weird," Sinder said, "but you are my best friend, too. My only friend, now that Roscoe is gone."

The two girls looked at each other and smiled.

* * *

><p>Sam Temple's new house near Lake Tramonto wasn't all that great. A lot of people had helped contribute to building houses next to Lake Tramonto since there were not any. At first, people didn't do anything, except expect that somebody would build their houses for them. But, once they found out that wasn't how it really was, they built their own houses. Sam lived with Astrid Ellison, his religious, beautiful, girlfriend, who was in a deep, dark depression after throwing Little Pete to the bugs.<p>

"I killed him!" Astrid would say. "I threw him. It was me. I am never supposed to sin and what I did was practically murder!"

Sam would always have to assure her that it wasn't. He had finally made up with her. She had forgave him and yet, when they were a couple again, everything almost seemed to fall apart. At least their love was stronger than ever: when Sam told Astrid that he had decided sex wasn't what he wanted if it meant losing her, she had broke into tears of happiness, despite the loss of Little Pete.

Right now, Sam was sitting in the living room, staring into Astrid's elegant, blue eyes. Now that Sam had a lot of pressure off of him by Caine declaring himself King of Perdido Beach, he realized that he wanted to be with her more than he had known. He also realized that he was a very social person.

"What are we going to do today?" Sam queried.

Astrid shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe we can go somewhere . . . This house is the only place we are ever at. It gets kind of annoying."

"Lets go see someone, maybe?"

"Fine by me," Astrid said.

"Maybe we can just, you know, walk around and talk to whoever we see that we want to," Sam said. "I wanted to see how Edilio's doing and it's been a long while since I have talked to Quinn."

Astrid sighed. "Ah, Sam, you know that going to Perdido Beach would only make Caine suspicious. And, if Caine becomes suspicious, he will probably jump to conclusions . . . Inevitably, it will lead to a fight."

"Oh, come _on_, Astrid!" Sam said. "This is _exactly _why you are called Astrid the Genius."

She kind of smiled at that. "People tend to know who is smart and who is not."

Sam grinned, too. "Wow. I didn't know Astrid the Genius had a sense of humor . . . And I thought I knew everything about you."

"_Please_," Astrid said. "You don't even know my middle name."

Sam frowned at that one. "Uh . . . I didn't know you had a middle name."

Astrid gasped. She was acting as if she were kind of angry, although it was her own joke. "I can't even speak to you right now!"

She stood up and pretended like she was leaving the living room.

"Astrid, wait!" Sam called. "I'm sorry. You should have told me!" He had gotten to his feet and was now following her.

Astrid spun on her heels, leaning her head to his and pressing her lips to his. She moved her tongue onto his and they kissed. Sam interlocked their fingers, the both of them holding hands.

With the hand that wasn't holding hers, Sam moved it towards her back. His left hand went from the nape of her neck to the lower-back. His hands grabbed at her butt and that's when she pulled away, a smile on her face.

"Maybe this is the day we go for it," Sam said.

Astrid shook her head. "Not today, Sam. For the millionth time, I have to resist my urges because I want to remain abstinent. Is that so hard to believe?"

He pulled her tighter to where her chest was touching his. "Yes, Astrid, it is."

Sam had been surprised that she hadn't pulled away, but when she finally did, he had been expecting it. "Stop it," she said. "You're making it difficult for me to say no."

"All right, all right," Sam forfeited.

"Now, how about we go out and have a fun day?"

**Authors Note: This is planned to be a full-length novel, most likely longer than any other **_**Gone **_**novel. I wanted most questions to be answered in this story, so please ask any questions you want to be answered and I will put a part of the story answering it. Thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed.**


	2. TWO

**TWO**

74 Hours, 45 minutes

**Caine Soren **had gotten what he had wanted from his ex-girlfriend, Diana Ladris: sex. But he wanted more. He was hungry for it. And, even though he still wanted more of it, he had realized—shortly after Diana left to live at Lake Tramonto—that he really did love her and he wanted her to still be with him. As long as he could have her back, as long as she could be with him again, maybe sex wasn't all that he wanted. Maybe he could make it up to her. But the only way to do that was to ask for forgiveness. And that was something that Caine Soren would never do. Or at least he thought he would never do; he had missed her so much that he was actually debating on whether or not he should.

"Damn!" Caine bellowed, slamming his fists on his desk; he was sitting in the mayor's office at Town Hall. He hadn't sat in the mayor's chair ever since the beginning of the FAYZ, but, now that he was King of Perdido Beach, he was back in the chair. He was the leader of half the FAYZ. People worshiped him. It was his dream come true.

Caine shuffled through the papers in front of him, the papers sitting on his desk; they were mostly complaints, some of them really childish.

The door to his office opened and in rushed Quinn Gaither. "King Soren, we got an entire load of fish," Quinn said. "Should we take them to Ralph's Grocery as usual?"

"Okay, let me repeat myself: You will _always _take _anything_ you catch to Ralph's Grocery. Do we got that clear?" Caine released his gritted teeth: it had taken all his restraint not to fly Quinn into that wall.

"Yes, sir, Mr. King Soren, sir," Quinn said nervously, walking out of Caine's office.

"Quinn?" Caine called.

"Yeah?"

Caine looked down at his papers, avoiding eye contact. "I'm going with you to Ralph's Grocery. I am starving."

"All right, King Soren," Quinn said. "I am going now, so if you want to come, it's now."

Caine set the papers down and started after Quinn, exiting his office, walking through the Town Plaza and entering First Avenue. They walked down First Avenue, anxious to make the turn at the highway.

"Sam called," Quinn announced.

"What about it?" Caine asked rudely.

Quinn, again, looked nervous. "He was wondering if I could go over there to Lake Tramonto, but I told him I was too busy fishing. So he told me to ask you if you two could not fight so he could come over here to Perdido Beach and fish with me, maybe surf."

"Fine," Caine allowed. "You know, my goal had always been to kill Sam Temple, my brother. Now . . . Now things aren't going so well. I think I have been introduced to the concept of karma. Diana . . . Diana had pleaded me to change, to not be so evil. She wanted to be a better person. I promised her . . . But I lied. I'm not a better person. I am thinking about going to Diana and pleading for her to come back to me."

"But, let me guess," Quinn said, "you are not wanting to seem weak. Because King Soren isn't weak. He is a king."

Caine smirked. Computer Jack had thankfully got electricity, internet, and telephones working again. Although there couldn't be more than ten or fifteen people talking on the phone in the FAYZ at one time, it was still pretty good. Sam had called Quinn. To Caine, that was a sign of weakness. If Caine were to even call Diana, that would be a sign of weakness.

"Quinn, now that I know about karma, I no longer am making you and everybody else in Perdido Beach kiss up to me."

Quinn's eyes sparkled.

"That doesn't mean you can piss me off," Caine added. "If you piss me off, it won't end up well. You'll probably go flying through a wall."

The two boys took a left on the highway.

One of the things Caine really wanted Diana back for was the baby. Diana was bound to have the baby any time now: she had almost been pregnant nine months. Almost a year and a half into the FAYZ, Caine was fifteen and a half and had realized that he did want to be a father. Maybe not this soon, but all the same, he wanted to be a father.

_Karma_, Caine thought. _Thank you, Karma. You are making me a better person. Now all I have to do is get Diana to believe that I _am _a better person._

"Quinn?"

"Yeah?"

"Give me Sam's number. After I eat, I want to call him."

* * *

><p>Nobody knew Diana Ladris's number. Her life was hell now: nobody lived with her. She never talked to anybody. Without Caine, there was nothing. But he had used her. He had never wanted anything to do with her, never even cared about her. All he wanted to do was to stick his penis in her vagina and go at it.<p>

Although she still believed that Caine loved her, Diana denied it. She had loved the feeling of having sex with Caine, she really did and her need for it was more urgent than ever.

_I don't care, I don't need him. All he did was_—

"Oh, my gosh," Diana gasped.

_My water just broke._

Diana didn't know what to do, so he threw herself out of her bed and managed to get herself to the living room. Beside her telephone was a phone book that Computer Jack had gave to each person in the FAYZ. Only the very important people's numbers were in the very small phonebook, not people like Sinder. Diana's number, by request, was not put in the phonebook.

_Who do I call, who do I call?_ she mentally screamed to herself. _Dahra Baidoo! That's who I call! Where's Dahra's number, where's Dahra's NUMBER?_

"Found it!" Diana cheered. She punched in Dahra's number. It rang for a few seconds and then Dahra picked her telephone up.

"Hello?" Dahra greeted.

"Dahra, it's Diana Ladris. My water . . . My water just broke."

Dahra gasped on the other end. "Oh, my gosh! Hold on, hold on, where do you live?"

"Seven houses down to the left of where Sam stays," Diana blurted. "Please, come quick."

"I'll be there. Unlock your front door so I can come in. While your waiting, lay on your back. But somewhere soft, not on the floor."

Tears in her eyes, Diana hung up the phone and stumbled over to her bed. She lay on her back, putting the covers over her waist down. This was going to be terrible. Horrible.

She just hoped it wasn't going to hurt more than when Drake Merwin had diabolically nearly murdered her with his disgusting whip hand.

* * *

><p>Dahra Baidoo dashed to her room, scanning it for her medical book. When she found it, she quickly turned to the section about delivering a baby. It didn't look like it had much advice, but she still needed it: Little help was better then none at all.<p>

She rushed out of her house, grabbing a few medical supplies. A few people looked afraid that she was running at full speed towards Diana's house. And they knew. They all knew that Diana was delivering the baby.

Some people had tried to follow, but Dahra told them to go away. The only one she didn't dismiss was Edilio Escobar.

"Hey, Dahra, what's wrong?" Edilio queried.

"Diana," Dahra panted. "She's in labor!"

Edilio's eyes went wide, his skin pale. "Oh, gosh!"

"Please, Edilio, go to Sam and tell Sam to call Caine," Dahra ordered.

"Are you crazy?" Edilio demanded. "Do you know how much more fear there will be if Caine comes over here?"

"Do you know how much there will be when we don't tell Caine and he comes over here to torture us?" Dahra retorted. "Do it! NOW!"

Edilio just shook his head, already stumbling off to Sam's house. Dahra took a deep breath, then continued running towards Diana's house.

When Dahra got to Diana's house only two minutes later, she threw the door in, entering the tidy home.

"Diana?" Dahra called.

"I'm over here," Diana croaked.

Dahra jogged over to Diana's bedroom. It was clean, just like the rest of the house. Diana was on her bed, sweating, gazing up at the ceiling.

"Okay, Diana," Dahra said, "I'm going to need you to spread your legs."

"Now you sound like Caine," Diana joked weakly.

Dahra ignored her. "Are you hot right now, Diana?"

"Yes," Diana answered. "Smoking hot."

Dahra smiled a little at the joke. "Well, since I see that you are sweating, I am going to ask you if you want to take all of your clothes off because this is going to be a long, painful, sweaty process."

Diana looked nervous. "Uh . . ."

"I'm not one to judge," Dahra promised. "I'm not a lesbian either, so don't worry."

"Can you take my shirt off, please, and my bra?" Diana inquired. "I feel so weak, I can't do it."

Dahra nodded, feeling a little uncomfortable as she took Diana's shirt off. Diana still just gazed at the ceiling, still looking dead. Beneath Diana's shirt rested her bra, two round circles coming perfectly off of her chest. Dahra knew she had to be quick, but she hesitated for a second before taking the bra off.

Diana exhaled with pleasure when Dahra found a fan and pointed it towards Diana so that Diana wouldn't sweat too much.

"Your breasts were getting a little overheated, so I brought you this fan," Dahra said. "I'm afraid keeping your bottom clothes on is not optional: I'm going to have to take your pants and underwear off."

"Go ahead," Diana mumbled.

Dahra, even more hesitantly before, unzipped Diana's blue jeans, dragging them off of her. Dahra grabbed her underwear and pulled them off of Diana. And there it was. There was the vagina that Dahra was going to be looking at for a long time: birth wasn't exactly a fast process.

"Okay, only your socks and shoes are on," Dahra said. "I'm going to take them off in case you accidentally try to kick me while you are giving birth here in a little bit."

"Oh, my gosh!" Diana screamed. "I don't want to do this! It's going to hurt, I know it is!"

"I'm not going to lie," Dahra said. "It is going to be pretty tough."


	3. THREE

**THREE**

73 hours, 31 minutes

**Drake Merwin** was still very much alive. He was not dead. But his life had taken on a boring edge. Drake was not killing people, not Sam Temple, not Caine Soren, but he did have the main person eliminated: Peter Ellison. Or, as he was nicknamed, Little Pete. But Drake and Brittney Donegal had their own nickname for him: Nemesis.

Nemesis was dead. Astrid had killed him. But the Darkness had told Drake to not harm anybody, to not attack Sam or Caine or anyone else. The Gaiaphage told him that, if they would wait long enough, that they could finally take over the FAYZ.

So, for months and months—what seemed like years to Drake—he had just sat in the mine shaft along with the Darkness, staring at the shining crystals of the Gaiaphage. It was something that put Drake in amazement. This was his master, his leader, the thing that inspired him.

"How much longer?" Drake asked. "How much longer before we start our plan to run the FAYZ?"

_Soon_, the Darkness told Drake. _We will take over soon._

"Good," Drake said. "But, now that you have your Nemesis out of the way, it's my turn. I want Sam Temple."

Beside Drake sat the girl that Sam Temple had tried to kill. The Darkness had thankfully made her appear to him before Sam could kill her.

"Not if I can first," Nerezza argued. "He almost killed me. I hope he knows I am still alive. Drake, with the Gaiaphage, you, and I, nobody can stop us."

* * *

><p>Quinn Gaither was by himself now. When Caine and Sam split the FAYZ into two sides, all of his fellow fishermen had went with Sam. But he wasn't mad at them: Quinn didn't really care if he had company or not, although he would prefer it. What he really care about was that he remain a fisherman: fishing was his passion.<p>

Occasionally, Albert Hillsborough would come along so that he could get the fish and bring them back to Ralph's Grocery. Albert was the business man, probably second in command beside Caine here in Perdido Beach. He was always busy, but had managed to spend some time with Quinn.

Ever since Caine and Sam split the FAYZ into two, a lot of people stopped talking because half of their friends were with Sam or half of there friends were with Caine. It was something Quinn didn't like. Quinn wished he could hang out with Sam, but his passion to fish was a lot more to him that hanging out. The results of his work, the hard abs, the large muscles, meant a lot to him.

He had left Caine at Ralph's Grocery, coming back to the water to continue his job.

_Yep_, Quinn thought. _Fishing is my passion._

* * *

><p>Edilio Escobar pushed his legs faster. Sam's house was now in view.<p>

_Oh, gosh, Sam, please be home, please be_—

The door to Sam and Astrid's house flew open and Edilio skidded. He tried to stop himself from running, but ran straight into the house, accidentally tackling Sam.

Sam pushed Edilio off of him, jumping to his feet, hands in front of his face. "What was that for, Edilio?"

"It was an accident," Edilio panted. He took a few shaky breaths and then spoke again. "Diana is going to have her baby. Dahra told me to tell you to call Caine."

"Dahra wants Caine to come over here to Lake Tramonto?" Astrid asked.

"Yeah," Edilio said. "Dahra says that if we don't tell Caine and he misses his baby's birth, he will be really mad. Not only that, but I think it would be wrong to deprive him of seeing his baby being born."

Sam sighed, nodding. "All right. I'll call Caine. Edilio, be ready just in case Caine does anything."

"You got it," Edilio said, then ran off.

"There went our day," Astrid muttered as Sam walked over to the telephone in the kitchen.

Sam picked the phone up, a little unsure, and dialed Caine's number. It rang a couple of times and then Caine picked up. "Hello?"

"Caine," Sam called. "It's me. Your, uh . . . Brother, Sam."

There was a pause before Caine spoke, feeling awkward and suspicious that Sam was saying this. "What do you want, Sam?"

"It's Diana," Sam whispered.

"What?" Caine demanded, his voice urgent. "What about her?"

"She's having the baby."

Caine gasped. "Oh, my goodness. Sam, I need to come over there. I won't do anything bad, I just really, really need to—"

"You got it," Sam said. "You can come over."

The line went dead.

"What happened?" Astrid queried, coming to stand by Sam.

"I told him about Diana," Sam responded. "He seemed pretty worried. I don't think he will do anything to try to take over Lake Tramonto."

"You know, Sam," Astrid said, "you _are _his brother. He promised not to do anything wrong. There's been a rumor going around that he is trying to be a good person because he is introduced to the concept of Karma. Think about it: he doesn't have Diana anymore. Imagine how that must be for him."

"What's your point?" Sam grumbled.

"My _point_ is that, like it or not, Caine is your brother. The only brother you have. And that brother of yours is about to have a son. What if, when Caine matures—"

"If," Sam interrupted.

"Okay, _if _Caine matures and becomes a good person, and you two become close, don't you think you'd have a horrible feeling knowing that you missed out on his child being born?"

Sam opened his mouth, about to reply, when Astrid walked forward, lying her head on Sam's chest, suddenly bursting into tears.

Sam frowned. "What's wrong?"

"I am preaching to you about how to do things and having a guilty conscious when I killed my own brother. Sam, I _murdered _him! I threw him. You don't know what it feels like to look at your brother falling down to his death."

"Everything's going to be okay," Sam lied, patting her head. "Everything's going to be _all right_."

* * *

><p>Lana Arwen Lazar had always been apart from everybody else in the FAYZ, never at all social. But now she wasn't; she had begun to have feelings for her boyfriend Sanjit. He had liked her, and, at first, it had annoyed her, but, then, when she spent a lot of time with him, she had found out that she liked him, too. So, yeah, they were a couple.<p>

Sanjit had asked her to live with him. She had agreed but was unhappy; along with Sanjit lived Virtue, Peace, Pixie, and Bowie. She had went from living just with her dog Patrick to living with he boyfriend and his people. The younger kids that lived with them had developed feelings for her dog, Patrick. They would always play with him and really made Patrick's doggy-life happy.

Lana and Sanjit had one of the biggest houses built at Lake Tramonto because of how many people lived with them.

Never in a thousand years would Lana have thought she would ever have had another boyfriend. But, well, here she was, lying down, cuddled against Sanjit's chest, loving the feeling of touching muscle.

"Maybe we should get ready," Sanjit said. "Somebody might need us today."

"All right," Lana agreed, rolling out of bed and heading for the restroom.

Now that the plague was gone and there hadn't really been any terrible incidents for nine months, Lana wasn't needed that much. It was like getting a long vacation, a vacation that she loved. Sanjit had tagged along to protect Lana. She remembered laughing at that. Who would protect the Healer? But she just knew that it was because of his crush on her. And, strangely enough, she was okay with that. She was now discovering love.

Lana took her time getting ready, not rushing herself, especially not in the shower: now that water was no longer a worry, showers were something that was pretty much unlimited.

When she was done taking a shower, Lana plugged in her hair-straightener and began doing her hair. After a minute, Sanjit came inside the restroom. Lana didn't pay any attention to him.

Sanjit walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her, caressing his head against hers.

She craned her neck to the right, pressing her lips against his. He kissed back more forcefully, and Lana loved it. It sent shivers down her spine. It was amazing, really. She had been the most unsocial person in the FAYZ and then here she was in love with a boy.

The phone in Sanjit's bedroom rang. The couple stopped their kissing, Lana continuing doing her hair, while Sanjit strolled across the bedroom to answer the phone. "Hello?"

"Sanjit, isn't it?" The voice was familiar.

"Yeah."

"It's Sam. Can I talk to Lana?"

"My girlfriend?" Sanjit asked. He knew Sam was talking about her, but he just loved pointing out the fact that he was dating one of the hottest chicks in the FAYZ.

"Yes, please."

Sanjit held the phone away from his mouth and called to Lana.

"What?" Lana inquired.

"It's Sam Temple," Sanjit replied. "He wants to talk to you."

With a sigh, Lana made her way into Sanjit's bedroom. Nobody called her unless they needed something, needed a favor. _There went my vacation_, Lana thought. She picked up the phone from the bed where Sanjit had left it. Sanjit was pacing around the room nervously. "Yeah, Sam?"

Sam exhaled a shaky breath. "Look, Lana, do you know where Diana lives?"

"Diana Ladris?

"Yes."

"No. Who Does?"

"Okay, it's seven houses to the left of Astrid's house," Sam said. "She's delivering her baby now. Dahra wants you to come over to her Diana's house and try to numb the pain. Do you think you can do that?"

Lana took a few deep breaths, panicked that Diana was having her baby. "I-I-I don't know," she stuttered.

"Can you try?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'll be over there as quick as possible," Lana said. "Bye."

"Bye."

"What is it?" Sanjit requested, staring hard at Lana.

"Diana's delivering the baby," Lana whispered.

"Oh, crap. Well, why does Sam want you over there?"

"Dahra does. They want me to see if I can take the pain of child birth away. Or at least some of it."

"Let's get going, then," Sanjit said.

Lana stood and made her way out of the room, Sanjit right behind her. They walked towards the front door when they saw Virtue starting to trail them.

"Where are you two going?" Virtue queried.

"Diana Ladris is having her baby," Sanjit responded in an astonished tone. "Virtue, can you stay here and watch Peace, Pixie, and Bowie?"

"Sure, sure," Virtue said.

In less than a second, Lana and Sanjit were running for Diana's house.

FEAR


	4. FOUR

**FOUR**

72 hours, 47, minutes

**Dekka Talent **was not doing good as most people had been. Her love, Brianna, The Breeze, was ignoring her._ I should have never told her how I felt_, Dekka thought. _It might have been good if I would have died because of those bugs. At least I wouldn't be so hurt. I love you, Brianna._

Dekka sat in her bedroom of her small house at Lake Tramonto. There wasn't anybody to talk to her. She was depressed about Brianna. Every now and then she would build up the courage to show her face, to actually go out in public. But one time she saw Brianna and that had done it for her: the only time she would come out is if she needed food or if there was an emergency like the one with the greenies, but that was nine months ago, and nothing had happened since then.

_Knock, knock._

"Who could that be?" Dekka mumbled to herself.

She scrambled to the door, now a little worried as to why somebody was at her front door. Nobody came to visit her. Sometimes Sam would or Computer Jack to say sorry about the way Brianna was acting or Astrid. Others would rarely come, but those three were the main ones.

When she opened the door, The Breeze was standing there. Brianna looked as beautiful as ever to Dekka.

"Hey, Dekka, can I talk to you?" Brianna asked.

Dekka was taken aback. She was amazed even seeing Brianna here. She thought The Breeze would never, ever even so much as think about being her friend again.

"Sure," Dekka said nervously.

Brianna awkwardly stepped into the house, walking into the immaculate living room. The Breeze took a seat on the couch and waited for Dekka to make her way to the couch as well. Dekka sat on the opposite end, afraid The Breeze would get mad if she got too close.

"What beings you here?" Dekka mumbled. "I thought you were mad at me."

"I was," Brianna admitted. "But I realized that I should not be mad at you just because you are . . . Uh, attracted, to me. You can't help that you are a lesbian."

"Only if everybody could understand that," Dekka whispered to herself, although Brianna heard. "You know, Brianna, I would always get picked on, made fun of, sometimes because I am black, but most of the time because I am a lesbian. Now that I have these powers, let's see who will pick on me now."

"Yeah, your power is pretty awesome," Brianna agreed with a grin. "But, back to my point, I was to apologize for the way I was acting. The other day, Jack got mad at me for doing that to you. He told me that he was refusing to talk to somebody to cruel."

"Cruel?" Dekka questioned. "He called you cruel?"

"I know, it doesn't sound like Jack. But Computer Jack likes you a lot as a friend, probably because you two bonded when you went on that search with Sam and, somewhat, Taylor. Anyway, he was right; I was being cruel. I am sorry. I shouldn't have acted that way."

Dekka sighed. "It was my fault. I knew you would hate me if I told you. But I thought I was going to die, so I told you. Now that I lived, I regret it. Like I tell myself every day, maybe me dying would have resulted better."

Brianna frowned. "No, no it wouldn't have. Dekka, I like you as a friend and wish we could hang out again. I just don't want you to see me and Jack, uh . . . Kissing or something, and then get mad."

"Oh," Dekka whispered. "So it _is _true . . . You and Jack _are _together."

"Sorry," Brianna apologized.

"Nah, it's okay. It really is. You're not a lesbian, so I have no other option. The closest I can be with you is a friend, and, whether I like it or not, that is all we will ever remain being. It's a lot better than nothing."

"Glad you can understand," Brianna said. "Anyway, beside that, you won't _believe _the latest gossip here in the FAYZ."

"What?" Dekka requested, eager.

"Diana Ladris is delivering her baby. She's just went into labor."

Dekka gasped. "Oh, my gosh. No way."

Brianna opened her mouth to say something, but did not because she there was another knock on the door. "I think it's Jack," Brianna said. "He told me he was going to come, but that he had to finish brushing his teeth and combing his hair. He must be done now."

By each others sides, Brianna and Dekka walked to the door. Dekka was the one to open it. Jack stood just right outside the doorway, leaning against the wall beside the door in a cool-guy stance.

"Don't lean against my wall; you'll break through it," Dekka joked. "We wouldn't want that, now would we?"

Computer Jack came in and they all three sat on Dekka's couch. They talked and talk like they were old friends who hadn't seen each other in ages.

* * *

><p>Albert Hillsborough was a lot less busy after Caine and Sam split the FAYZ into two. He was still a hard worker, though. He would always be running here and there, picking up food, delivering them. He was a business man, somebody greatly admired despite the fact that he didn't have any powers like some other people in the FAYZ.<p>

He was still manufacturing his "berto's." He had insisted that they be called "slugs," but Howard called them "berto's," and the name stuck. Either way, they were the FAYZ currency, one of Albert's best accomplishments. He was proud to say that he created the money currency for the entire FAYZ.

Right now, Albert walked towards Lake Tramonto. He was delivering the food for them. Albert had been talking to Caine when Caine got a call and had just taken off running. Albert didn't know what his problem was, but he wanted no part of it.

All he wanted to do was stay out of the battles of the FAYZ and continue doing his work. But he doubted that there was a battle going on the FAYZ at the moment: there had not been a battle since the greenies, Drake's army, had attacked, nine months ago.

He was very happy at the moment: food was being produced very well now, water was no longer a problem. It was almost as if they were doing okay, despite the fact that there were no adults, no television. Computer Jack had restored electricity, got phones running, as long as there weren't too many people talking on them at one time, and was working on getting Internet back on.

Albert's job was almost becoming easy now. But that was good as well because he could get more done once he had more free time. Everything was okay for him except the mark of his face where he had been shot. He wished Zil Sperry and his dead Human Crew would burn in hell. And he had gotten his wish. The only two people alive that had ever been members of the Human Crew were Lisa, Zil's girlfriend before he had died, and Turk, who was now serving Caine.

Now that Caine was supposedly becoming a better person, Turk no longer had to work for him that much, only on a few occasions, every now and then, a few small favors. And that made Albert mad: the Human Crew had did terrible things and for two of the previous members to be alive was absolutely outrageous.

Revenge was something that Albert wanted badly, but that would mess up his reputation. Besides, Turk would not try to kill Albert by himself, and, if he did, he would most likely be sentenced the death punishment. Neither would Lisa; nobody had heard of Lisa in quite a while, not that they should; Lisa was a very unpopular person in the FAYZ, although there were a few people that were even less popular than her.

Albert sighed, sweeping the thoughts away as he entered Lake Tramonto.

* * *

><p>Charles Merriman, nicknamed Orc, agreed to moving in with Howard at Lake Tramonto when Caine and Sam split the FAYZ into two. Orc, along with Howard, were two of the five people on Town Council. Besides them, Brother John, his real name John Terrafino, Sanjit, and, the Healer, Lana Arwen Lazar, were also on the Town Council.<p>

The five-member Town Council hardly ever had meetings anymore now that things were practically going good in the FAYZ.

Orc and Howard were waiting on Howard's front porch for Albert to arrive. Every so often Albert would call Howard and Orc and tell them to wait on their front porch so that he could deliver food for them to give to the people that lived at Lake Tramonto with them. They had accepted the favor for Albert, although they always kept a little more than they were supposed to.

"Hopefully he brings beer," Orc said.

"You know that you drunk all the beer available in the FAYZ, Orc," Howard said.

That was true: Orc was such a drunk that he had drunk all the beer available in the FAYZ. When Orc had been notified that he had done that, he went into a rage, nearly tearing the walls of Howard's home down. Howard had calmed Orc down and convinced him that he didn't need beer. Orc was always searching vacant homes when he could just to see if he could find beer. Very rarely would he find any, but when he did, he would drink it in less than an instant.

_It's for the better, though_, Howard thought. He didn't want Orc to drink because he had once gotten so drunk that he had taken Little Pete, who was now dead, and Astrid, out of Perdido Beach when the greenies attacked, and had left Howard without telling him.

"Here he comes," Orc said.

Albert came into view, ambling, pulling a huge wagon with food piled onto it. He saw Orc and Howard waiting on the front porch and waved them over.

"Albert the business-man!" Howard called with a very sarcastic grin as he and Orc walked forward.

"Hey, don't start with me right now," Albert warned. "I am giving you more food than I usually do. Most of the food goes over here, anyway. Hardly anybody lives in Perdido Beach now."

"Didn't find any beer, huh?" Orc requested when he and Howard reached Albert.

"Sorry, but no," Albert responded. "I am searching all the places I can, but nothing turns up. But thanks, both of you guys, for delivering the food to me. It's a hard job and I just wanted to say not to quit. Quinn and I are going to give you a . . . um, pay advance, let's say, in a little while."

"You know I only work when I get paid," Howard said. "You've been paying well, but now here comes my Christmas advance."

"Christmas was about four months ago," Albert riposted. "Did you forget?"

"Whatever," Howard muttered. "So this is it, huh?"

Orc was surprised at how much food there was. "Man, where did you get all of this? I thought you would have killed al the fish by now."

"Quinn is getting pretty close to that point. He went to the library and found a book on fishing techniques just the other day. I guess it had some pretty good tips in that book because, well, we got about twice the amount of food we usually do."

"No shit, dude," Howard agreed.

"So what is Quinn going to do when he eventually catches all of the fish?" Orc asked.

"Well, it's probably nearly impossible for him to do that because they have kids as well, but, when he starts to decrease the population of fish too much and other of the animals, we are thinking about going further to the right of Town Beach to the Pacific Ocean."

"Do you know how dangerous that is?" Orc inquired.

"Yes, we do understand the dangers," Albert said. "But Quinn is becoming very experiences. He is even giving me some advice and I am getting pretty good at it, too."

"Man, imagine what kind of things they will catch if they go out to the Pacific Ocean, Orc," Howard mused. "I bet there will be animals we haven't ate since the coming of the FAYZ."

"How much longer before you finally go out to the Pacific Ocean and catch something that actually tastes good?" Orc complained.

"Well, pretty soon, I can imagine," Albert informed. "If I had to guess, I'd say maybe a week or two. But we are going to need to need some more fishermen. My servant, Leslie-Ann, might take one of those rolls. I know Quinn can't do it all by himself."

"All right," Howard said. "I think me and my man Orc here will go now."

Albert let go of the wagon, gesturing for Orc to grab it. "Well, there you go. See you later, boys." Albert walked away, disappearing from view.

"Well," Orc said, grabbing the wagon. "Let's deliver this fish."

* * *

><p>Drake Merwin and Nerezza still sat in the mine shaft, still looking at the Darkness's sparkle. The Gaiaphage was just beautiful to them. Elegant. It was a sophisticated creature for sure. Something to be greatly admired.<p>

The diamond crystals sparkled even more.

"He's awake," Drake murmured.

"Our master, our leader," Nerezza cheered. "Live!"

_Drake, Nerezza, it's time. Time for you to take over the FAYZ._

FEAR


	5. FIVE

**FIVE**

72 hours, 03 minutes

**Bug had **to be the one to take care of Penny after Caine became King of Perdido Beach. It was at sometimes very annoying, but he managed to feed her and do everything he could. Caine promised that he was still trying to talk to Lana about healing her legs. But would take advantage of Penny's disability sometimes and look under her panties sometimes.

When Bug used to live with Caine, Diana, and Penny on the island, Bug used to camouflage himself so he could see Diana undress. But he had stopped doing that when Diana threatened to tell Caine. That had scared him. There was no telling to what Caine would do to him if he found out Bug was peeking at Diana.

"Bug!" Penny called from the other room. At the house that Bug and Penny lived in, there were only two bedrooms.

Bug put the comic book he had been reading down on the bed and walked over to the other bedroom. Penny lay there, smirking.

Suddenly, there were images of monsters in front of him. The green, fat, glob was coming towards him, laughing evilly. Bug screamed, stumbling backwards. The images faded, the monster gone, and Penny said, "You're so funny when you are scared!"

"You know what?" Bug said. "You don't need a bath. For now, you don't deserve attention." Bug turned and ran out of her room before she could make him hallucinate again.

Penny was so cruel, sometimes even the thought of her scared Bug. He didn't have to suffer by living with her, but he had a big heart and would feel bad if he would have just left her without any attention. His punishment to her if she did cruel things like what she just had done was to ignore her for an hour or so and then come back to see if she was going to "behave."

_This is enough_, Bug thought. He walked back into his room and got ready.

_Time to bug Caine so Penny can get out of here already._

* * *

><p>Taylor was on the island. Caine had fulfilled his promise in letting Taylor go back and forth from the island. She was watching the movie <em>Scream<em> on the DVD player that was in one of the many rooms at the mansion on the island. She was the only one in the entire FAYZ that could be at a place with electricity and any kind of food she desired.

Guilt of being selfish was not something that she cared about. She wasn't guilty at all. She was just happy that she had the power that she did. Transporting herself to any place that she had seen in the FAYZ was awesome.

_Maybe I should go to Lake Tramonto and see Sam and Dekka and all my friends_, Taylor thought. _Nah, maybe later when this movie is over._

_Yeah_, Taylor decided. _When this movie is over._

* * *

><p>John Terrafino was, as always, exhausted. Nobody to help him out anymore. Mary Terrafino had disappeared. His sister, just . . . Gone. But it had been almost a year since that had happened and a lot of the littles at that time period had already turned five now and were adopted by others in the FAYZ. When the FAYZ came, there was lots and lots of kids under the age of five that had to be taken care of at the Day Care. Now, there was maybe half that amount, which was still a lot.<p>

John was sitting on the rocking chair at the door of the Day Care, watching the littles. They were mostly all just playing with their toys, most of them taking naps.

Even though the day had just started, Brother John still wished night would come soon. That was his most enjoyable time of a day; night. That way, he could sleep. It was a miracle that none of the littles had sleeping disorders. If they did, John would be doomed.

_Only twenty-one kids left here_, John thought. _I just want them to all turn five so I won't have to take care of them. My goodness, it's too hard to work!_

This is what John Terrafino did every day now; watch the littles, taking care of them, wondering why, just _why_, Mary had taken the big one-five, leaving him with this responsibility.

Caine had promised to send three helpers very soon, by tomorrow, and they had still not shown up. John could not wait until they came so he could get twelve hours of sleep: when—if he followed his word—Caine sent the three helpers over here, John would make two of them work twelve hours and then he and the other helper would work twelve hours.

It seemed like almost too good of a deal.

* * *

><p>Drake and Nerezza moved on foot. Up and out of the mine shaft they went. Away from the Darkness. The Gaiaphage. The Darkness had told them that it was time for them to take over the FAYZ.<p>

"We need more help," Narezza whispered as they moved through long, thick weeds. They didn't know where they were, but they knew they would eventually get to where they needed to be; the FAYZ wasn't _that _big.

"More help?" Drake questioned, raising a brow. "What do you mean, we need more help?" He raised his whip hand and put it on Nerezza's shoulder. "I don't need more help as long as I have this whip."

Nerezza didn't even pay attention to Drake's whip. "I am not scared of you, Drake. I'm not scared of your whip hand either. That tentacle is nothing to me."

"I can lash the skin off of your face!" Drake threatened. "Don't try me!"

"Go ahead," Nerezza said, shrugging. "I don't care. It's the Gaiaphage who cares. It will kill you if you kill me. Why do you think it created me? It knew that you can or will not be able to finish the job."

"Whatever," Drake mumbled.

They continued walking through the tall weeds and grass, sometimes getting cuts on their legs.

After a while, Nerezza said, "Look, it's a house," pointing to it. It was white and fairly small.

"All right. Whatever," Drake muttered.

The two of them neared the house. Drake was hoping they would find somebody in it so that he could have a little fun. Nerezza was the one who opened the door, and said, "Ladies first," letting Drake in.

"You're calling yourself a man?" Drake asked.

Nerezza ignored him.

They walked into the house. As soon as they went it, they were in the living room. Two couches sat facing each other, the leather clean and perfect. In between those two couches was a coffee table, two tea cups on it. The table was made out of fine glass and was not very high.

Nerezza and Drake made their way out of the living room, taking a right into a kitchen.

The kitchen was small, just like the living room. It had a nice tile floor and on the north wall, a refrigerator was pressed against it. A long, wooden-brown table ran from the west to the east walls. There was only two chairs pulled up to each end, although many more could have been fitted.

Both Drake and Nerezza looked through the refrigerator, hungry after their long walk. Drake sat on the chair on the west end and Nerezza on the chair on the east end of the table.

They were silent as they at in the kitchen until, a few minutes later, there was a squeak as the front door opened, followed by the sounds of footsteps.

Drake and Nerezza jumped out of their seats at the kitchen table at just the same time as three human beings came around the corner from the living room to the kitchen.

There were three people, all of them smiling and laughing, talking to each other. One of them, Drake could identify: Lisa, a former member of the now no-longer-existing Human Crew. Then, he and Nerezza both saw that the other two were Emily and her brother.

"Lisa, Emily, and Brother," Drake whispered, smiling his freighting shark smiling.

"Drake," Lisa breathed, her face a mask of horror.

Brother was backing away. He, like Emily, was staring at the tentacle arm. Brother, the youngest by many years, was already out of sight, terrified, probably hiding somewhere away from the scene the Whip-Hand was at. Emily and Lisa were also terrified, but they stood their ground.

"So, Emily, you're the one who helped Zil and Caine set the town on fire, no?" Drake inquired, glancing at Nerezza who was smirking by his side.

"Yes," Emily managed.

"And, Lisa, you were once part of the Human Crew?" Drake queried.

Lisa didn't speak, but nodded.

"So, why did you abandon them, huh?" Drake taunted. "Your little boyfriend, Zil, and all of his stupid friends are dead. Caine and Dekka killed them. Sam killed one or two of them, too, I think. They were destroyed by the three most powerful mutant freaks here in the FAYZ."

"I know," Lisa murmured.

Drake raised his whip hand and lashed Lisa, who screamed, stumbling backwards, reeling.

"Wait!" Nerezza cried. "Drake, stop!"

Drake looked at Nerezza coldly. "What?"

"Don't kill them," Nerezza said. "I think I have a way for them to help us."

Drake turned to Emily and Lisa, who was getting back up. "How about this: you two and that little boy who ran away help us take over the FAYZ and we won't kill you?"

"Okay," Lisa agreed, wiping blood away from her cheek where Drake's whip had cut her. "I'll do it, just, please, don't kill me."

"What about you, Emily?" Nerezza asked.

Emily looked paralyzed, but managed to say, "Fine, as long as nothing happens to Brother."

"Go get your brother so we can leave already," Nerezza ordered. "Lisa, Emily, trust me, this will be fun. And don't think you can escape because if you try, then Drake and I will kill you. Go. You have two minutes to get him before we leave."

The two girls shook their head, disappearing into another part of the house.

Drake turned to Nerezza. "Well, Nerezza. I think we got out crew. Get ready, FAYZ, because everything is about to change."

* * *

><p>Turk had not changed. He was still, somewhere inside, malicious. But his break from the Human Crew had made him wonder if he was still evil. It almost seemed that he was becoming a normal person. But that couldn't be true; if there was one thing Turk knew, it was that he was no normal person.<p>

One of his motivations to being evil was because he wanted to stick out, to be special in the FAYZ. Someone that everybody knew. But that had gotten him nowhere. He didn't know if Lisa was alive or not because she had just disappeared, so, assuming that she was dead, that would mean he was the only previous member of the Human Crew left. That scared him. He missed Zil and Lance and Hank and all of his old buddies.

But, because of his actions, Turk had became Caine's servant. That had been a very unpleasant job. Caine had been mean, rude, and very punishing. But then, it almost seemed that Caine went into a sort of depression. He had stopped being mean and punishing and had become sort of cool. Turk knew it was probably because he no longer had Diana.

Either way, Turk was sick and tired of doing things for Caine. But not anymore. Caine hardly ever needed Turk now. Still, being scared of Caine was something Turk did not like. He was not scared of anybody, not matter who it was.

Turk was in Caine's office, waiting for him. Where could Caine be? He would always wait for Caine here every day so he could ask if he had to work for him today. Most days, now, Caine told him no. But every now and then, he would say yes.

_I'm nobody's worker_, Turk thought suddenly. _I don't need this. You know what? I HATE Caine. Yeah, that's it. I wish I could have the Human Crew back so we could attack him._

Turk shook his head, confused at his sudden change of emotion.

_Lisa. I don't care if she's the only one that will help. Either way, she will. I know she will. The two of us can kill Caine if we want to. Yeah. And then WE can run the FAYZ. That would be awesome._

Getting to his feet, Turk headed for the door.

Lisa was probably in Lake Tramonto, so that's where Turk was headed. He knew she wasn't in Perdido Beach. If she was, he would have seen her. So that meant the only place she could be was Lake Tramonto.

_Like it or not, Lisa, you are going to help me take over the FAYZ_.

* * *

><p>Toto The Truth Teller. That was his nickname. What people called him. He was living with Edilio in Lake Tramonto. Edilio had been the only one to agree to taking in Toto. Although most people called his power annoying, Toto thought it was awesome that he could tell when people were lying or telling the truth.<p>

Spidey was still his best friend, no matter what. No matter where he moved to or went, Spidey was always with him.

Even now, when he was sitting down on his bed, reading a comic, Spidey was with him.

Edilio lived in a two-bedroom house in Lake Tramonto and had his own room, just like Toto had his. Edilio had told Toto that he was leaving because somebody named Diana was having a baby and a girl named Dahra needed him to help her out with the process.

"That's true," Toto had confirmed.

"Of course it is," Edilio had said. "You know I would never lie to you, Toto."

Then he left, leaving Toto by himself here, reading cool comic books with Spidey next to him.

_That was a good comic book, _Toto thought, setting the book down on his bed. He looked at Spidey and said, "And that's true. It was a good comic book."

FEAR


	6. SIX

**SIX**

70 Hours, 57 Minutes

**Diana Let **out a painful, dire, excruciating, agonizing shriek. She screamed and she screamed and screamed. It was the most aching thing she had ever been through. Diana Ladris was delivering her baby.

Caine was the first one to be here to see Diana. He had been by Diana's side the entire time, letting her squeeze his hand as hard as she could. Diana didn't have a mean remark when she saw her baby's daddy, but instead was grateful to see Caine.

Shortly after, Sam and Astrid had showed up. There were only five people allowed by Diana to see her delivering her baby; Dahra because she was helping out the most, Caine because he was the father, Sam Temple because he was Caine's brother, Astrid Ellison because she was Sam's girlfriend, and Lana Arwen Lazar to help the pain dull, although she was not yet here.

A wave of pleasure had went through Sam when he had seen Diana's perfect, naked body lying on her bed. The breasts and vagina were exposed, which had caused Sam to become happy. He was glad he had wore pants to hide his erection. That was the way he wanted to see Astrid. She was the most beautiful girl in the FAYZ to him. Diana was the second most beautiful, but Sam only wanted Astrid and nobody else.

After a few minutes, Sam matured about the situation and stopped thinking so sexually. He walked up to Caine very nervously, Astrid letting him go by himself; she knew it was going to be a conversation that she needed to stay out of.

"What are you doing here?" Caine demanded. "You can't just come here to see Diana naked. It's an amazing sight, isn't it?"

"Diana has a very nice body," Sam admitted, his confession resulting in Caine glaring at him. "But that's not why I am here."

"Then why _are _you here?" Caine asked.

"I am here because I wanted to, um . . . Talk to you," Sam said. "Look, Caine, I know we have had some pretty bad battles in the past. But I just want to get over our feud. All right? I've heard that you are becoming a . . . better person. If you are, I was thinking we could call truce."

Caine let Diana's hand go, giving Sam a long stare. "All right. Fine."

"I think it's true," Sam whispered. "I think you have became a better person. If you were still the same Caine, I know you would have attacked me."

"But I didn't," Caine interrupted.

"Exactly. You know, Caine, I've always wanted a brother. Always. Now . . . Now maybe you could be my brother I've never had."

"Brother," Caine said, standing up, "I _am _your brother. It's about time I start acting like it."

Both Sam and Caine smiled, hugging each other, patting each other on the back.

Caine pulled away. "Now that that's settled, I have to get back to Diana." He turned away from Sam and went over to Diana again.

Sam ambled back across the room to Astrid. "It went perfect. We made truce and are going to act like brothers now. I feel a lot lighter, like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders."

Astrid smiled. "Well, that _is _something you no longer have to worry about, although—"

"Hello?" a voice suddenly called from another room in the house. "Diana? Dahra?"

Sam in front of Astrid, they made their way to the living room to see who it was. Lana Arwen Lazar closed the door behind her, Sanjit with her.

"Hey, Sam, hey, Astrid," Lana greeted. "Where's Diana and Dahra?"

"Diana's bedroom," Sam said, pointing.

"Stay here," Lana told Sanjit. "Let me ask if you can be here or not."

Lana left Astrid, Sam, and Sanjit, the three of them already talking, in the living room, making her way to the bedroom. When she got there, Diana lay on her bed, a very painful look on her face. Dahra had her head between Diana's legs, observing her vagina. Caine was right beside Diana, squeezing her hand, repeating to her that he loved her and everything was going to be all right.

_Oh, my gosh, I SO do not want to be here and see this_, Lana thought. _I REALLY don't looking at Diana naked._

"Hey, Dahra," Lana said awkwardly, coming over to stand by her. "So how do you think I should do this?"

Dahra lifted her head up from between Diana's legs to look at Lana. "Well, just press your hands on her lower stomach. Now that you are here, get Sam and Astrid so I can begin explaining."

"About that," Lana said, "I was wondering if my, you know, boyfriend, Sanjit, could come in here. He thinks he always needs to protect me and well, even though it is very stupid, I really like him."

"Don't ask me," Dahra insisted. "It's Diana that you need to ask. She's the one having the baby."

Keeping her gaze away from Diana's perfect breasts and vagina, Lana asked, "Diana, is it okay if Sanjit comes in here with me."

"Why not? Everybody else is already here, marveling over my sexy body."

Lana turned and made her way back into the living room. She interrupted Astrid, Sam, and Sanjit's conversation by saying, "Sanjit, you are allowed to come in. Dahra wants everybody in so that she can start to explain."

With nods, Lana, Astrid, Sam, and Sanjit started for the room. Caine was still holding Diana's hand, Dahra now no longer inspecting Diana's vagina. "Okay, guys," Dahra said cheerfully. "Let's start. Lana, put your hands on Diana's stomach and then I can start."

Astrid, Sanjit, and Sam staying at the back of the room, Lana walked over to Diana's naked body, lying her hands on Diana's stomach. Dahra started to speak as Diana had continued her loud cries of pain.

"Okay, there is something called the four stages of labor. Diana is towards the end of the second stage. As you can tell, the baby's head is sticking out. What I'm going to do first is tell you guys about the Four Stages Of Labor."

Diana let out another scream.

"Stage one consists of regular uterine contractions with cervix dilation. Full cervix dilation occurs at approximately 4 inches. The length of this stage varies from mother to mother. It depends on many factors including but not limited to previous pregnancies, the health and condition of the mother and fetus, patience of the doctor (or midwife) and willingness to induce labor, medications used at this stage, hospital versus home birth, etc. As you know, Diana is delivering her baby at home, therefore, this is homebirth."

Dahra paused a second before continuing. "Okay, Stage two generally takes from 15 to 50 minutes. During this time, uterine contractions strengthen and become more frequent. During this stage mother will feel the need to bear down and push. The baby goes through a series of passive movements—especially the head, which undergoes flexion, internal rotation, extension, external rotation, and crowning. In other words, the first sign of the baby's head."

"And that's the stage Diana's in, stage two, right?" The question came from Caine, who looked a bit confused as all the others in the room did. The only one who knew everything that Dahra was saying was probably Astrid, which was very reasonable.

"Now, for stage three," Dahra continued. "This stage consists of the period immediately following birth to the expulsion of the placenta—generally taking 5 to 10 minutes. Should the placenta not easily come out, tugging or pulling should not be performed. Gentle uterine massage may be utilized to assist in the release. The placenta should always be examined to be sure no parts remain within the uterus. This can become detrimental to the mother causing hemorrhage and/or death."

Caine's eyes went wide with horror. "Oh, my gosh! Are you saying Diana's going to die?"

"We don't know anything for sure just yet," Dahra said. "But there's always a chance."

Caine squeezed Diana's hands tighter. "I love you so very much, baby," he sobbed.

"Any more questions?" Dahra asked. Nobody replied, just stared. "Okay, Stage Three. During this stage, mother is monitored to be sure no uterine bleeding or other complications occur."

"That's it?" Caine inquired.

"As for me explaining the Four Stages Of Labor, yes," Dahra concluded.

Again, everybody in the room was quiet as Dahra continued expecting Diana, who was constantly screaming and writhing in pain. The sounds Diana was making were so miserable, they were heart-shattering to the others in the room.

"Has your pain lessened since Lana has tried helping you?" Dahra queried to Diana hopelessly.

"No," Diana moaned.

Lana lifted her hands off of Diana's stomach. "I've done everything I can. I've never tried so hard for something like this. It's no help."

Shaking with anger, Lana went to the back of the room where Sanjit was, standing next to Astrid and Sam, who were embracing each other with a hug.

_I feel so damn HELPLESS! I couldn't heal anybody from the plague, I can't heal Diana. Oh, my gosh_, Lana screamed inwardly, realizing something that shattered her heart. _What if I lost my powers?_

Next to Lana, Sanjit was thinking something else as he felt Lana bury her head into his chest and cry. _This must be too much for her. It sure is too much for me. This is just so terrible_. Shaking his head, Sanjit bent his head down to kiss her hair.

Astrid was doing the same as Lana was doing with Sanjit to Sam. She knew that chances were slim of Diana making it through this. She had understood everything Dahra was saying and from the looks of it, there were high chances Diana could possibly die.

Sam's thoughts raced. He had barely been happy that Caine and himself were going to get along to now very sadly have been introduced to the possibility that Diana was going to die.

Watching his brother cry and cry wasn't exactly the best thing to view. Sam himself thought that a tear might fall from his eye and roll down his cheek. He didn't like happy endings in movies and books because he thought that they were too unrealistic. But, now, in the situation he was in, Sam could only wish this ended happily. But he just knew that the FAYZ wouldn't let that happen.

Dahra was still doing the best she could, hoping and praying that Diana could make it out alive. The screaming and crying girl was the most pathetic thing she had ever seen in her life. Compassion and sympathy was Dahra's main feelings for the girl. If that was her on the bed, if it was her suffering like that, she would probably wish she were dead.

Caine was sobbing, crying very loudly. Tears rolled down his cheeks. His face looked years older than it was, having seen things no sixteen year old should have. If Diana were to pass, he would probably have to kill himself. There was no other option for him. Nothing else he could do.

Diana herself was a wreck. She had known where the pain was coming from at the beginning of delivering her baby, but she no longer knew anymore. It felt like every part of her was hurting, like the pain would never. The only thing she could hope for now was to deliver the baby successfully. If she could do that, dying would be okay with her.

For the past nine months, that was what mattered the most to her; the baby. The human in her stomach had acquired a lot of love from Diana. It was the love mothers felt for their children.

"Okay, everybody, Diana almost has the baby all the way through," Dahra announced happily with sudden glee. "In just under a minute, the baby will be all the way out."

"You're going to make it," Caine whispered into the ear of Diana. "You're going to make it, babe." The repeating of the sentence sounded like it was him who didn't believe it and the only reason he was saying it was to make himself believe it. Caine felt a surge of hope as he looked over the blanket covering Diana and saw that the baby was practically all the way out.

"The baby's out!" Dahra exclaimed, peering at its genitals. "It's a girl!"

The words sounded far away to Diana. She no longer had to fight to stay alive. She could maybe do something about how tired she felt. Diana had the sudden urge to fall asleep. But she had done it. Against all odds, she had delivered the baby. _Her _baby. And, even though she knew the sleepiness was death, she was oddly okay with it.

Smiling, Diana Ladris whispered to Caine Soren, "I love you, too," and closed her eyes.

**Author's Note: Okay, so far this has been the funnest chapter for me to write. And it's the only chapter that is focused on a single scene. Poor Diana D: Anyway, thanks to those of you who are reading this faithfully.**

FEAR


	7. SEVEN

**SEVEN|**

70 Hours, 13 Minutes

**DAHRA BAIDOO** LIFTED the baby out of Diana's body. It was a girl. She announced its gender, then offered the crying newborn to its mother. Diana was motionless for just a second and then lolled back, craning her neck to look at Caine.

"I love you, too," she whispered. Diana smiled, closing her eyes.

"The baby is so pretty," Caine murmured, taking the baby into his hands because Diana didn't accept her. "Look, Diana, look at her."

Diana didn't open her eyes.

Dahra sprung into action when she noticed that, Lana coming to stand by her side. Dahra pressed her fingers to Diana neck, checking for a pulse.

Caine jumped to his feet, still caressing the baby even though tears were already coming out of his eyes. Caine handed his little girl to Sam, who was smiling at the newborn, trying to calm it down from its crying.

Caine ran over to Diana, squeezing her hand tight again and repeating, "Please, don't be dead, please, don't be dead. Diana! Diana, Diana, DIANA!"

The roar shocked everybody in the room, the bellow the deepest, shocked, angry, and saddest sound any of them had ever heard.

"Nothing," Dahra whispered, astounded. "No pulse."

"Stand back," Lana commanded. "Everybody, _stand back_!"

"Why do you want us to—"

"_Stand back!_" Lana shouted, her voice filled with anger and frustration. "I am going to try to do something. But, if I do it, I need everybody at the way back of the room, as far away from Diana as possible."

Dahra obeyed, but Caine did not. Astrid, Sanjit, and Sam were still at the way back of the room. Hopefully, Dahra could convince Caine to get off of her.

"Caine," Dahra called, lying a hand on his shoulder, "I need you to step back, we are going to try something. Why don't you look at the baby?"

"Get off of me!" Caine screamed, turning his face to look at her. His eyes were bloodshot, giving him a crazy look, taking all of his handsomeness away.

Sam knew that it was something that would take physical removal. Words wouldn't help. "Sanjit, you want to help me take him off of her?"

"Get off of her _now_!" Lana hissed. "She's going to die if you don't get off!"

Sanjit and Sam jumped across the room to Caine, each of them taking on of his arms, dragging him to the back. Caine threatened them, telling them that if they didn't let go, he was going to hurt them.

Lana drew in a deep, shaky breath. She pressed her hands against Diana's chest, compressing her boobs, the perfect breasts.

She hadn't been this nervous since she had attempted to kill the Gaiaphage over a year ago.

Lana pressed harder, pumping Diana's chest, trying to get her breathing again. Usually, if Lana would press down on a cut or wound, it would go away. She was thinking that if she pumped her chest and pressed down at the same time that Diana would revive.

It was told that a person could be revived if you operated on them shortly after their death.

And then something clicked. A wave of pain went through Lana's body as her hands stopped pumping, her entire body freezing.

She concentrated. Put all of her focuses and repeated to herself that she needed to revive Diana. She lied to herself, saying that if Diana were to come back to life, the FAYZ dome would lift. It would all be over.

Lana concentrated more. Her brain seemed to ache, as it never had worked this hard in her life. Her face was going red, her eyes hurting, her vision blurring—

—and Lana immediately knew what was happening; she was transferring life into Diana. Concentration was always something she was good at doing, but this could not be described as concentrating. She was more than determined; not even willing herself would be the right thing to say.

As soon as Diana Ladris breathed in air again, as soon as she revived, Lana Arwen Lazar collapsed. Sanjit Brattle-Chance, Sam Temple, Astrid Ellison, and Caine Soren sped forward together, eager and anxious to see what had just happened.

Caine was speed-walking instead since he had the baby in his hands. When he reached Diana, he started to sob even more, this time producing tears of happiness.

She was alive.

Diana Ladris was _alive_.

"W-what happened?" Diana asked. Caine explained everything to her, handing the baby over so she could hold it, telling her how much he loved her again, babbling on and on.

The real problem was Lana. At first, they thought she was dead. But then Dahra confirmed at there was a pulse, just that she needed a second to regain her strength, already performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation. CPR.

When she was done, Dahra pulled her head back very breathlessly. Lana stood up slowly, managing an artificial smile.

"I've alive," Lana breathed.

Once Lana looked somewhat healthy again, they all went to go circle around Diana, musing at the baby's beauty.

"What should we name her?" Diana asked.

"I don't know." Caine shrugged. "We haven't been talking ever since you've been pregnant, so I don't know what we should name her."

"Cassandra," Diana said abruptly. "It means _she who is neglected_."

"But, let me guess, you only want to name her that because it sounds pretty," Caine decided.

"Yes," Diana admitted.

"Well, that's it," Caine said. "That's our baby's name."

* * *

><p>Turk was very tired. Exhausted. He was just roaming around, peering everywhere, hoping to find Lisa. When he thought he was about to give up, he turned and caught a view of somebody coming from the weeds to his west. A feminine figure popped up and Turk felt a wave of great satisfaction.<p>

He opened his mouth to say something, but then saw others following behind her. Turk recognized them as a girl named Emily and a boy who she called Brother. And after those three appeared, two more figures showed, the both of them standing side by side.

_Oh, my gosh_, Turk thought. _Drake Merwin and Nerezza. I thought Nerezza was dead._

"Hey, you!" Drake shouted, looking at Turk, cupping his hands to his mouth so his voice would echo.

Filled with dread, Turk looked up at Drake.

"Come here!" Drake ordered. "Turk, isn't it?"

Nodding, Turk made his way over to the five. Drake was exercising his tentacle arm, perhaps debating on whether or not he should use it, twisting and turning it every way.

"Yeah, Drake?" Turk asked in a casual voice to make Drake believe he wasn't intimidated or even the even the least bit afraid of him.

"You're coming with us," Nerezza said, gesturing her hands to Emily, Brother, and Lisa. "You see these three? They are helping us, too. They didn't want to, but they have no other choice. Or they could die. Either way, we are taking over the FAYZ."

Turk grinned. "You don't have to ask. I _want _to come. I'll help you till the end. But there's a catch: I want to kill a few people."

"Are they popular people like Albert and Caine?" Drake questioned.

"Those are exactly the two I am talking about. We shot Albert, but he managed to survive. And, Caine, well, he used to treat me bad."

"Who is 'we'?" Nerezza probed.

"The Human Crew," Turk acknowledged proudly, glancing at Lisa who had snapped her hand in his direction at the mention of the Human Crew.

"You got yourself a deal," Drake agreed. "We are going to kill all the important people like Sam and Caine. They can't live. They are a danger to our plans."

"What will Caine do?" Turk wondered. "Apparently, he has become some good person or something like that. It was rumored that he is acting like that because he thinks that karma will haunt him."

Drake chuckled. "Caine, Caine, Caine, Caine. You just put yourself in a bad situation, old buddy."

"He sure did," Turk agreed.

"Let's get to stepping," Nerezza directed.

All six members of the crew started walking down the road, not really knowing where they were going, just knowing that they were talking and moving at the same time.

"Here's our plan," Drake announced. "We are going to Perdido Beach since there isn't a lot of people there. And then we are going to basically take it over. I know of a few people that have strong powers. The ones that don't have powers, well, I can manipulate them. The ones I am going to Perdido Beach for is a girl named Penny and Bug, I think you know Bug."

Turk clapped his hands, amused. "Ah, man, this is just too great. We are going to dominate the FAYZ."

FEAR


	8. EIGHT

**EIGHT|**

61 Hours, 58 Minutes

**ORSAY PETTIJOHN **WOKE in a panic. Her power was to see into peoples dreams. Last night, she had seen Drake's dreams. Drake Merwin. The sadistic boy with a tentacle arm. He had a dream that he was torturing Sam Temple, lashing the skin off of his back. And, at the way end, he was the leader of the FAYZ. There was a horrible time where he ruled.

This hadn't been an ordinary dream. Even for Orsay. She was wondering if she should tell Sam. But that would not result well. She would probably be accused of trying to manipulate everybody in FAYZ. But it was worth a try. If something did happen with Drake Merwin, hopefully her reputation would no longer be bad.

_Yes, that's it_, Orsay thought.

She sat out of her bed, sweating, and climbed off, going over to the bathroom in a slow manner. She showered and plugged in her hair straightener. She and Lana Arwen Lazar were obsessive over their straight hair. Orsay sure did want to become friends with Lana, but that was something that never developed.

_Perhaps that is something that can change after I restore my reputation._

Now she was feeling in a little too good of a mood. She was really looking forward to the day. It was only morning, the light barely coming back outside. Nobody knew what time it was in the FAYZ. They knew what day. But not what time.

When she was completely ready, Orsay left her small house in Lake Tramonto and made her way to the house where Sam Temple and Astrid Ellison resided. It was a quiet, peaceful walk that Orsay enjoyed very much. She liked walking, she really did.

Orsay knocked on the door audibly, but not too loud. It only took one second until a shirtless Sam Temple came to the door. Astrid stood concernedly behind him.

"Hey, what's up, Orsay?" Sam greeted, smiling a genuine smile. "What brings you here this early?"

"That's what I need to talk to you about, Sam," Orsay said, looking down at her shoes nervously. "Do you mind if I come in?"

"Of course not," Sam said. He stepped to the side, letting Orsay walk in. She was weirded out by looking at Sam shirtless, especially his armpit and developing chest hair.

_Wow, Astrid gets to actually _sleep _with him! Too bad she is abstinent. I would so go for that._

Astrid and Sam followed her, taking a seat on the nice, leathered couch facing the other. Orsay sat facing Astrid and Sam.

"Okay, so what's going on?" Sam asked a bit rudely this time, but it was just his worry that made him sound like that.

"I . . . My power is to see into peoples dreams," Orsay started to explain. "Probably every night I see into some one else's dreams. Somebody new. Last night, well, last night, I saw into the dreams of Drake Merwin." She was shaking, she suddenly realized, although Astrid and Sam probably didn't notice.

"What about it?" Sam queried. "Did you see something that seemed important?"

"Yes," Orsay said. "I saw him lashing you." She paused when Sam gulped, his expression turning into a mask of pure horror. "Anyway, after that, it was strange. I saw kind of like his vision. He was running the FAYZ. People were working for him, like his slaves almost—Hold on." She pressed her fingers to her temple. The dream of his vision was coming back.

At first, in her dream, she had only seen Drake sitting on a throne, fire blazing in the background behind him. And then she heard somebody laughing. An unfamiliar, evil, laugh. Now, when she was looking back at the dream, she saw more. Drake turned and told the laughing women something. He grinned his shark grin as a terrible face came into Orsay's view. It was Nerezza.

"Ah!" Orsay screamed, jumping back.

"What?" Sam demanded, Astrid jumping up at the same time he did.

Orsay composed herself and then spoke in a quivery voice. "I saw, I saw Drake on a throne, fire behind him, people in the FAYZ suffering. And then he looked at—he looked at Nerezza."

"No," Astrid whispered, recalling the events of when she squeezed and squeezed and squeezed Nerezza's throat, the feel of it somehow right even though she knew it was wrong.

"W-w-why are you telling me this?" Sam stuttered.

Sighing, Orsay said, "Look, sometimes, whether you believe it or not, some of my dreams come true. And I think there is a chance Drake is coming back with Nerezza. But I could also sense somebody else with them. More than one person. Multiple. At least five."

"No," Astrid repeated.

"Do you think Drake got more people to help him?"

"Wait, I'm going to try to see deeper into the dream," Orsay announced. She pressed her hands to her head again—and heard Drake say something else.

"We did it. We took over the FAYZ."

"Goodness," Orsay muttered, then, in a louder voice to Sam and Astrid, "He said, quote, 'We did it. We took over the FAYZ.'"

"He's going to try to take over the FAYZ," Astrid said. "When I dropped Little Pete to the bugs, Drake told me that the Darkness needed him. Then, Brittney emerged. She told me that the Gaiaphage was going to send her and Drake back to kill Jack and I for killing Little Pete."

Sam sighed. "Thanks, Orsay. We'll look out for Drake. I am going to try to put things in order in case he does come."

"All right," Orsay said, standing and making her way out of the door. "I'll tell you if I see anything else."

"Oh, wait, Orsay," Sam called. "Do you think you can go ahead and visit Diana? She had her baby last night."

"Really?" Orsay returned into the room, coming to meet Sam and Astrid. Her eyes were filled with surprise. "Boy or girl?"

"Girl," Astrid answered. "Oh, my gosh, she's just so _pretty_!"

"Aw," Orsay said. "Thanks, guys. I'm going to go see her now."

And then Orsay left.

Now that they were by themselves, Sam and Astrid could begin their real talk.

"That was pretty bad last night," Astrid said. "With Diana almost dying, I mean. And then Lana, I thought she was going to die."

"I felt bad dragging Caine away from Diana," Sam confessed. "I could have tried something else. I know I hurt him because I saw bruises on his arms."

"You had to, Sam. If not, Diana wouldn't be alive right now."

"I guess so," Sam admitted. "As long as they have their baby."

* * *

><p>Bug reached Lana's house. He knocked on the door, wanting desperately for her to answer. He had camped out on the highway last night because he had gotten too tired. It was morning, but still not the perfect morning before the FAYZ; there were no birds flying in the air or singing. The only thing indicating morning was the rising light, the rising sun. It looked fake almost, the sun did.<p>

The door opened and Lana came into view, standing there in the doorway, her slim body outline reminding Bug just how beautiful she was. And then a boy that he thought was named Sanjit Brattle-Chance, but wasn't sure, hugged her from behind, pressing his lips on her neck. That reminded him that she was—and would never be—his.

But it really didn't matter that much to Bug anyway. He didn't really care for girls. Sure, he would use his power, make himself invisible, so that he could sneak in and see girls undressing. He was only ten, nine when the FAYZ started, and he was now understanding the happy feeling he got when looking at naked women. He knew that his penis would grow and stay in its position, not as flexible as it would be if he weren't looking or thinking about women or girls naked.

The only problem he had with it was that he didn't know what to do. He always felt like he had an urge to do something, but he didn't know what it was. He knew he couldn't have sex without a girl, so what could it be? He thought he had heard somebody call it masturbation, but he wasn't sure. And, even if he was right, what _was _the thing called masturbation?

Either way, one time he got really curious about how a vagina looked, so he peeked at Penny, who was a lot older than him. She had told him to "lick her and eat her out" but he didn't know what that meant either. She had later made fun of him for not knowing what it meant. Penny also told him this: "Look, Bug, all you got to know is that it's something people do when they have sex. What you do when you are turned on."

He had questions to that statement, like why would people be eating things and licking things if they were having sex? But he did know what Penny's vagina looked like and it had grossed him out at first, until he decided that he wanted to stick his penis in it.

Penny had offered to him that he could have sex with her. Bug had sadly declined it because he really didn't know how to do it good. He really did want to, but he didn't know what to do once he had his penis in his vagina. He had never looked at porn, something he very desperately wished he could change now. The other problem was that he didn't know if his penis was large or small and he didn't want Penny to make fun of him.

Lana snapped him out of his thoughts. "What do you want, Bug?"

"Well, Penny is getting on my—" he stopped, thinking that maybe he could go to the deserted library and check out a book on sexual things so he could learn and then he would try to go for Penny. "Um, no, never mind, I was going to say that there is this girl named Penny living with me. Her legs are hurt really badly, so I was wondering if maybe you could come over to my house and fix her."

"Don't you live in Lake Tramonto, though?" Lana asked and was already dreading his answer.

"Yes."

"Aw, man," she pouted. "Fine, but only if Sanjit can come with me."

"All right, fine with me," Bug allowed. "I don't care, as long as you fix her legs."

"Hold on, then, we will be just a second." Lana was going to close the door on him, but opened it instead. "Do you want to come in?"

"Sure." Bug closed the door behind him and stepped into the house, watching as Lana and Sanjit disappeared into the hallway leading out of the living room. Inside the living room were four kids sitting on the couch, staring at a screen that was playing a DVD.

Since he had some time to kill because Lana and Sanjit weren't ready, he met the kids, which he learned were named Peace, Pixie, Bowie, and Virtue.

Virtue was closer to Bug's age than any of the four, so that's who Bug talked to. They had a long conversation, talking until Lana and Sanjit announced that they were ready to go.

Sanjit was going to open his mouth to ask if Virtue could watch Pixie, Peace, and Bowie, but Virtue already knew he was going to ask, waving him an agreement.

Bug wished he could have a lot of brothers, but he only had one, who was sixteen and disappeared with his parents when the FAYZ came.

Lana talked to Sanjit almost the entire way, but there were times that Sanjit talked to Bug or Lana talked to him so it wasn't as bad as coming back alone. Bug paid close attention so that he could know what to do with Penny. She was really pretty, it was just that she didn't look like it after the accident with Caine.

Of course, Bug couldn't perfect the kisses the way that Sanjit and Lana did because he was only ten, almost eleven. Penny had just turned twelve, so they were barely over a year apart. Even so, it interested Bug because of the way Lana and Sanjit seemed to almost have a spiritual connection. The way they moved, they way they kissed, was almost as if they were one.

When they entered Perdido Beach, Bug turned to them and said, "All right, guys, I think I am going to the library. Anyway, my house is the one directly across from Ralph's Grocery. You know where that's at, right?"

"Of course," Sanjit said.

"Okay, well, I'll be there not long after you get there. If you're done and I'm not there, just go ahead and leave the door unlocked when you leave so that I can get in," Bug explained.

"Bye," Lana said over her shoulder, Sanjit doing the same.

Eager, Bug continued toward the library.

**Author's Note: Okay, this, along with Chapter Seven, was the hardest chapter to write. I got the order of the events all mixed up and it was hectic! Either way, thank you all for reading and reviewing so that I can continue this story. Also, you might not care, but I have started to like Bug a lot because of the upcoming role he is going to play very soon. Anyway, thanks and PLEASE comment/review on my story.**

FEAR


	9. NINE

**NINE|**

60 Hours, 49 Minutes

**SAM WAS **SITTING on the couch in his house, staring at the television screen. _Superman Returns _was playing, the volume lowered to where it could barely be heard. Astrid told him that she had to use the restroom and that she would be back.

Having electricity back on, thanks to Computer Jack, was awesome. But, since DVDs were the only things available to watch, a lot of the fun was taken out of it. Sam had taken movies from his house when he moved to Lake Tramonto, that way he would have something to watch. However, he only had a very limited amount of movies and he and Astrid had already watched most of them.

_Eh, I don't really like this movie_, Sam thought, getting to his feet, standing. He made his way from the sofa to the DVD Player, ejecting the disc and putting it back in its case. He didn't want to have to watch that movie again.

The house was very quiet since he turned off the DVD, and he thought he heard something. Sam listened more thoroughly. A sob from inside the house. Somebody was crying.

Getting to his feet again, Sam exited the living room and tried to follow the sound. He ended up at the way back of the home, where the bathroom was.

Astrid. It was Astrid who was crying.

Sam knocked on the door gently, then asked in a soft voice, "Astrid, can you open the door, baby?"

There wasn't an answer, but only a few seconds later, the door opened, Astrid coming into view. She had tears in her red, puffy eyes and her face was a mask of sadness and depression. She was wearing her night gown, having only woken up just over a half hour. She was in her socks, her feet not showing; she never showed her feet. Sam did not even remember ever seeing them.

"What's wrong, Astrid, baby?" Sam questioned, taking her into his arms, caressing her again his chest, patting her hair.

"You know what's wrong," Astrid said rudely. She pulled Sam closer, their chests touching. Sam was getting a little excited because of that, so he pulled away. "Petey, I miss him. Diana has her baby now, she's a mother. I was practically a mother, too. Almost. Imagine how it would be to have a son and lose him. As a mother, it would kill you inside. It's taking it's toll on me, that's for sure."

Sam didn't respond.

Apparently, Astrid was not out of her depression yet. She was very good at hiding it. Sometimes, she would even make jokes that had made Sam forget all about her loss of Little Pete. Only on a few occasions, Astrid could not hide it and she would break down. Even if she broke down, she would be strong and would not let tears escape. But tears escaped now.

"Petey," she moaned, more tears spilling out. She squeezed Sam tighter, then pulled away again. "You know what, Sam? I think I need to be alone for a while. How about you stay here and I . . . well, I will go somewhere. I don't know where, but I will know soon enough. I just want to be alone, all right?"

"Okay," Sam whispered, releasing Astrid, who was heading for the front door, wiping the few remaining tears away. She left without another word.

Sam sighed, heading for the bedroom that he and Astrid shared. The air in the home was cool and the bed was made perfectly. The red blankets were fixed just as he liked them, not a wrinkle visible. He lay on the bed, thinking about what he could do. There was simply nothing. It was just so boring in the FAYZ.

Before the FAYZ existed, Sam would masturbate most of the times he was alone. He loved the feeling. But then, when the FAYZ came, he was too busy to be pleasuring himself. Now that everything in the FAYZ was calm, perhaps he would jack off. Jerking off didn't seem like such a bad idea at the moment.

An idea popped into Sam's head. He remembered, a long while before the FAYZ, he and Quinn had been walking home from school one day and had stopped in their tracks at the sight of something that looked like a DVD disc. It was shining. Quinn had picked it up, turning it so he could see what movie it was.

At the same time, they both saw what the movie was, and they looked at each other, smiling. _Best Sex/Porn Ever: Volume 6 _was the title. Beside the words was a girl standing teasingly, covering her vagina so it wouldn't be seen. It was a teaser that worked.

"Um, what should we do with it, brah?" Quinn had asked.

"I don't know." Sam shrugged, eyeing the disc. "Flip it back over to see if it has any scratches."

Quinn did, and they were both amazed to find out that it did not. It was as clean as the color white. "All right, brah, I know this is going to sound weird, but, uh, I think I am going to take it home."

Sam had smiled. "Well, Quinn, this is going to sound even crazier coming from School Bus Sam, but I would really love if I could have it."

Both of them had debated on who should get the DVD, Quinn making a good point: finders keepers, losers weepers.

"How about this, brah," Quinn had suggested. "Your mom is already at work, right? Well, we could both go to your house and watch it there."

Sam only nodded. He was going to answer, but had looked down and saw something very noticeably sticking from Quinn's basketball shorts. Quinn had blushed, taking off his backpack to cover his hard-on.

They both raced to Sam's house, throwing the door open, closing and locking it, then running up to Sam's room. There, they inserted the disc into Sam's DVD Player and were even happier when they saw that it came on without any problems.

"This is weird, brah, because my parents blocked off all the porn sites, so this is my first time watching it."

"Me, too," Sam had said. "My mom blocked them all off.

"I watched it once before, brah," Quinn mentioned. "And when I did, I, uh . . . Well, I took all my clothes off and I basically masturbated."

Sam's erection grew harder. "Well, I used to watch it until I got caught. I love masturbating and when I did used to watch it, I would always take off my clothes, too," Sam confessed, as Quinn had.

"Well, brah, I don't think you are getting what I am trying to say," Quinn explained. "I'm, uh, asking if I could take off my clothes, to, you know, feel more comfortable. If not, I guess it's okay. Don't want to seem gay."

Sam had agreed, keeping his eyes off of the striping Quinn. On the screen, a man was licking a girls vagina. A great sensation went through Sam and he involuntarily reached inside his pants.

And then he, too, started striping.

Together, they took of their clothes, shirts first, shoes, and then pants. They both hesitated with their boxers, but Quinn slipped them down to his knees, then stepped out of them, revealing a hard, long and thick cock. Quinn started stroking it, staring at the screen.

Sam went along, throwing his boxers aside. The two horny boys looked at each other for a moment, lost in lust, staring at the dicks that were very much hard.

"Nice," Quinn commented, looking at Sam, who was stroking his dick.

"Yours looks a little bigger than mines," Sam said, frowning. "Let's measure."

Sam found a ruler and measured. They were practically the same size, although Quinn was unnoticeably larger.

And then they had focused their attention on the screen where a guy was fucking a girls pussy so hard, she was shrieking and screaming and thrashing.

When Sam and Quinn saw that, they had both threw themselves back onto Sam's bed, beating their meat with mad intensity. Quinn became stiff, as did Sam, but they did not stop.

"Oh, my gosh, your dick is so fucking hot," Sam shouted, lust taking over anything he had in his brain. He unthinkingly reached for Quinn's juicy dick and started to jack it off.

Quinn did the same.

After that, they forgot about the porn DVD and Sam got on top of Quinn, slowly inserting his member into Quinn's ass.

Quinn didn't refuse, but when Sam got so horny that he couldn't wait and shoved it straight in, Quinn screamed. "Ah! Shit!"

Sam pounded Quinn's ass at an unbelievable speed, his large and sperm-filled nuts banging against Quinn. Sam stopped just as he had an orgasm. Quinn wiggled as a hot liquid inserted him.

"Fuck!" Quinn shrieked, pushing Sam off of him. Sam didn't know what was going on, but Quinn angrily put his hand over Sam's mouth and put his dick in Sam's ass, fucking Sam faster than Sam would ever have imagined.

Sam cried out with pain, but the pain felt so damn good, especially the load of cum that Quinn released into him. They traded positions again, Sam going at it, but pulling his dick out so that he could cum all over Quinn. It was Sam's biggest load, the sperm going all over Quinn's chest and mouth and just everywhere. Quinn fucked Sam after that, this time so hard that he was becoming physically exhausted. Quinn squirted all of his precious sperm on Sam and Sam licked it and ate it; Quinn's sperm tasted a lot better than his own. Quinn's cum load was the biggest Sam had ever seen, releasing and going everywhere, all over the walls and on posters, the window, the TV. Never before had a teenager squirted out a load that big. Quinn could have gone down in history for that.

They continued their lust-fucking until they could no longer go anymore. In the end, it had taken them almost an hour to quickly clean up Quinn's load. They promised to never speak of it again and promised they would never, ever do anything like that again, ashamed at their actions. And they fulfilled their promise; Sam and Quinn would never fuck again.

Sam replayed the event in his head as he lay on the bed, stroking his dick faster than before. At the moment, he wanted Quinn's dick very bad. It was the biggest dick Sam had ever seen in person, only an inch bigger than his own.

Just then, a load of cum erupted from Sam's cock, exploding all over him. Sam cleaned himself up, ashamed again at his horny, lustful thoughts. After ejaculation, he always lectured himself for having such lust and for being so horny all the time.

Nobody knew it, but Sam was the horniest person in the FAYZ. He was dying, that's how bad he wanted Astrid. Sam only had sex one time and that was with Quinn. He wished he could take it back, but he couldn't.

Sometimes, Sam got so damn horny, so lust-filled, so turned on, that he thought of leaving Astrid and going to fuck Taylor, who had told him she would be down for it any time.

Sam sighed, still ashamed at his thoughts. Ashamed.

Only a few minutes later, he was bored and got so horny that he had to go at it again, had to stroke that long and big dick of his. He fucking loved it, loved it, _loved it!_ Gosh, it felt so good.

And, all that day, Sam did nothing but beat his meat.

* * *

><p>Astrid Ellison cried and cried and cried. It seemed almost as if her eyes would never run out of tears. She was at the Stefano Rey National Park, sitting at a picnic table, her face pressed against the wood. She just couldn't believe that she was a murderer. That she had killed her own little brother.<p>

It was sick. It really was. Who would kill their own brother just because there was a slight possibility that if he died, the FAYZ would end. She knew a few people who would. Like Drake Merwin. But, out of all the normal people she knew, she couldn't think of one.

But why hadn't she thought? Why didn't she think of the consequences when she did that? Even if killing Little Pete did mean the end of the FAYZ, she would have still been blamed for murdering him. Whether or not killing him changed anything, she would be caused some type of grief.

She never thought she would be in a depression. No, that was not Astrid the Genius. _Astrid the Genius is too superior to be depressed_, she mocked herself. _Even if she would be depressed, she could think of something to resolve her sorrow._

"Whatever," she mumbled to herself, remembering all the times she and Petey had together. The times they played in the park or the times she took him on walks so he could enjoy the weather. All the times she was with him with her head held high because she felt like there was nobody who would make fun of her or her brother because she could make them feel stupid.

But all of that changed when the FAYZ came. All of it. Now that there were no adults, words, and the fact that you might be stupid, didn't matter anymore. As long as you were managing to stay alive, everything was okay. It seemed that way. Because that's what everybody told her, especially Sam.

_Everything's gonna be okay, everything's gonna be okay, everything's gonna be all right, everything's gonna be all right__—wrong. Everything's _not _gonna be all right, everything's _not _gonna be okay, everything is just going to get worse as time goes by._

—and then she remembered reading an article about depression, stating that depression could be resolved if one was more social. Something that she was not.

_Perhaps that's the reason this is so hard for me_, she thought trying to remember more on what the article had read.

_Almost anybody could be pulled out of depression as long as its not a mental issue_, she suddenly recalled. _Most people become depressed over things such as break-ups or a loved one passing away, things similar to that. But notice that they all involve people. What do you often do with people? Socialize. Communicate._

_Most people socialize or communicate with others. And, if somebody you socialize or communicate with often is no longer in your life, it may be hard to cope. So, what needs to be done is you need to communicate with others. And that's it. Communication is the key._

Astrid stopped remembering what the article stated when that part popped into her brain. _Communication is the key._

_Now _that's _what I need to do_, she thought. _I probably need to communicate with others._

Communicate.

That simple word abruptly taken a large role in her life. Just a word changed everything. She knew how to fix her depression, but she didn't really know if it would work out. Not too many people wanted to talk to Astrid the Genius. She made people feel inferior; she could tell by the look in their eyes every time she talked to them, in her manner of using enormous words.

But that had stopped when she met Sam Temple. She thought he was really cool. And she didn't want to scare him off. The only people she liked to make feel inferior were the bad ones, the bullies, the evil ones. Never before had anybody made her feel less than she was. Never.

She was always right, always correct. She didn't and would never commit any sins, she tried to always tell the truth, and she never judged. Except for one time when she had met a Satanist. It was a boy. He was very tall and one of the school bullies, somebody who had made fun of her and told her she was stupid for following God and that she should be a Satanist.

Always had Astrid kept her opinions to herself. She did believe that everybody could chose the religion or belief that they wanted to, but this was something different. It was like a slap in the face. Worse. For her, it was a brutal and cold beating. Abuse.

And, for that—not to mention that she wasn't having a good day—Astrid had slapped him back, but, this time, it wasn't a metaphor. She really did it. She was having the worst day imaginable and she took out her anger on him. And, for her decision, it went on her permanent record. It was the only bad thing she had on there.

With a sigh, Astrid got to her feet. The sun was up at nearly its peak. Nobody really knew what time it was in the FAYZ, but, if she had to guess, she would say that it had to be afternoon.

Astrid looked around the Stefano Rey National Park. There wasn't anybody in view. She turned and looked at the park itself. There were three benches at the side of the park, only one of them occupied by two girls, one of which was identified as Orsay Pettijohn. The other, well, the other, Astrid didn't know. She thought her name was Cindy, no, Sidney, no—Sinder! That was it! Her name was Sinder.

On the parks grounds was Brother John Terrafino, the only daycare watcher at the moment, along with the few kids who still resided at Barbara's Day Care.

For just a second, Astrid debated on who she should talk to first. Either way, she was hoping to talk to all of the people here at the Stefano Rey National Park. She had decided that she would talk to Orsay and the girl who she thought was named Sinder first.

They were sitting on a park bench, chatting away as if there were not a huge dome over them, as if there wasn't anything wrong around them. But that was okay. It was good. By doing that, they maintained calmness. The two girls were very noticeable, although they were not very popular, not well-known.

"Hey Orsay, hey . . . Sinder, isn't it?" Astrid asked as she approached the two girls. Sinder looked gothic and Orsay reminded her of Lana a little bit. Perhaps it was the hair. Yeah, that was it. Orsay and Lana had the best hair she had seen out of every girl in the FAYZ.

"Yes, my name is Sinder." She paused. "And your name is Astrid Ellison, right?"

"Yes," Astrid answered.

"You're lucky, you know," Sinder said. "Your boyfriend is Sam Temple and all. He is so smoking hot. I had a crush on him before, but when I told him, he told me that I was too young for him."

"How old are you?" Astrid inquired.

"Fourteen."

Their conversation stopped their as Orsay interrupted. "So, what brings you down here? Did something happen with Sam? Oh, my gosh, Drake is here, isn't he?"

"Not that we know of, no," Astrid responded. "I think Sam is going to Edilio to warn him about Drake. We both agreed on not saying that you are the one who suggested to us that Drake is coming. Anyway, Town Council and all the people who are involved in running Lake Tramonto and Perdido Beach are going to know."

"You're not going to tell them about my vision," Orsay mumbled. "You and Sam think that I might become an outcast, like Hunter."

"Well, that's the reason, yes," Astrid explained. "But the reason for it is because we are protecting you. Look, I do not think it was you who was telling people to die so they could get out of the FAYZ. I believe it was that ugly witch, Nerezza."

"It _was_ her," Orsay accused. "She tricked me. And then she tried to kill me. I hate her."

"I can imagine that you do," Astrid agreed. "I don't like her either. She tried to kill Little Pete."

Orsay opened her mouth and then closed it. She didn't want to bring up Astrid throwing Little Pete to those bugs. That would not be a smart move.

"This is why I stay out of all the battles and terrible things that go on in the FAYZ," Sinder said. "Being in them is no good. But then I feel like a coward."

"It's okay," Astrid assured. "Some people want to step up and be a hero, while others don't. Well, it doesn't really matter because everything in the FAYZ is going a lot better than usual right now."

"Let's hope it stays that way," Orsay whispered. She shivered at the memory of Drake and Nerezza and the other people they were with who she couldn't see. "But we can only hope."

"That's right. We can only hope." Astrid glanced over her shoulder at Brother John Terrafino who was getting all the kids in a line. "Hold on a second, I think I am going to try to talk to John before he goes."

They waved to Astrid as she made her way over to the playground. Brother John looked at her questioningly. He looked like he was surprised to see her. "Hey Astrid, why are you here? Not in a rude way, but I don't think I've ever seen you here."

Astrid shook her head. "I haven't since the way start of the FAYZ. But I thought that, you know, I could get out and maybe talk to people that I Haven't gotten the chance to talk to."

"Sam's getting boring or what ?" John queried with a wide smirk.

"Yes," Astrid replied sarcastically. That's it." They both laughed and then she told him the real reason. "Well, no. He kind of is, I'll admit, so I just wanted to talk to somebody new, you know?"

"Luck you," John laughed. "The only people I get to talk to are babies, toddlers, if I'm lucky."

Astrid smiled. "Okay, well, I guess I'll talk to you later, John. Since I am never busy, I think I might go down to the Day Care and volunteer there. Anyway, goodbye."

Brother John waved her goodbye and she turned for Orsay and Sinder. They were interesting.

Astrid was starting to like being more social.

**Author's Note: Okay, I am truly sorry for the boring chapter. By the way, Sam and Quinn were my first sex scene, so I hope I did okay! Thanks to all of you who review the story and I hope that somebody is still reading this. Oh, and this was the longest chapter in this story so far, just for the record. Please, keep reading, things are starting to pick up. Goodbye!**

FEAR


	10. TEN

**TEN|**

60 Hours, 44 Minutes

**DRAKE MERWIN **WAS dreaming. Somebody was watching him. A pretty girl. She had black her hair and was wearing blue jeans and a T-Shirt. He had seen her before. But it was a long time ago, when the FAYZ started, so he didn't remember.

Drake was sitting on a throne, Nerezza standing next to him. He was talking to Nerezza. Drake knew that the three, no, four people he capture yesterday were serving him. Emily, Brother, Lisa, and Turk. They were someplace in his dream. But where? It was like they were there, but out of sight.

He looked away from Nerezza and at the girl watching him. Orsay. That was her name. And then she was gone. There. Gone. It was like she left.

And then it came to him in a burst of intuition. Drake now remembered what that girl's power was. Orsay could see into dreams. She was looking into his. And the reason she was gone was because she was awake and she was no longer looking into his dreams. Now Drake felt like he had a little bit of privacy.

_You are correct about the girl. Her name is Orsay Pettijohn. You must kill her soon._

At first, Drake was freaked out. But, then, he knew who it was. The Darkness. The Gaiaphage.

_Yes, it's me, Drake. But there is a reason I have come to you in your dreams. I understand you are wanting to capture the girl named Penny at the moment. But, after that, you must do something a thousand times more vital: Diana Ladris delivered her baby. Caine Soren is with her at the moment. But I want you to take the baby. Bring it to me. I want to take over its body. With my unlimited powers, I will reshape the body to look as an adult. Once I do that, I will come to Perdido Beach and Lake Tramonto. I will fool them, trick them, lie to them. This is how we will take over the FAYZ._

Never before had Drake heard the Darkness send such a long message to him. Everything was laid out. Planned. The Gaiaphage's plan was brilliant. He would not fail this time.

_Open your eyes, Drake. You know everything that must be done. Bring the baby to me. Now wake!_

Suddenly, Drake opened his eyes and found himself where he had fallen asleep at; a large patch of weeds at the side of the highway.

Nerezza, Emily, Brother, Lisa, and Turk were all there, standing, awake, waiting for him. Drake rubbed at his eyes, yawning.

"Finally, you're awake," Nerezza said. "We've been waiting for you since sun-up. Nah, I'm just funning with you. We all just barely got up. Turk here is anxious to go already."

The sarcasm wasn't going to work for Drake right now. He lashed Nerezza with his Whip Hand, something he had never done in the many months he'd known her. She yelped loudly, reeling backwards. He tried to bring the Whip down on her again, but, amazingly, Nerezza put her hand up, reaching for it. She grabbed it, actually _grabbed _it, and dug her nails into the tentacle.

Drake cried out, his whip bleeding. He was amazed, astounded that Nerezza had the guts to grab his Whip Hand and dig her nails into it.

The tentacle squirmed, Drake trying to pull it away, but Nerezza held onto it, inflicting more pain. Drake only squeezed his eyes, holding back a shriek of agony.

"Never do it again, Drake!" Nerezza shouted. "I've told you already; don't mess with me! Mess with me and you will get hurt." She squeezed harder on the arm. Drake screamed and screamed and screamed. "What's the matter, Drake? Never had this happen to you?"

She let it go then, and Drake retreated it. He observed the tentacle closely, looking at the blood pumping out. It was a continuous stream of crimson that would seemingly never let up.

Drake looked at Nerezza, who was smiling wickedly, fear in his eyes for the first time. He was going to yell and shout at her, try to lash her again, but that would only prove to be dangerous.

"I should kill you right now," Nerezza muttered. She lifted her shirt to show Drake that she had a sharp knife and a gun tucked into her pants. "You see that, Drake? I always keep these two things. I've never told you about it because I knew you would try to do something about it. But, you know what? You are going to listen to me. I am tired of dealing with you."

"Listen, all of you," Drake whined, his voice taking on a childish tone. He was still hurt and shocked at Nerezza's speed and agility. He wouldn't make the mistake of even trying to hurt her again. Although nobody would believe it, both Drake and Nerezza knew he was scared of her.

Nerezza shot a look at the others, who al looked at her, and then at Drake, fearing what would happen if they were to disobey one of them. Nerezza, Emily, Brother, Lisa, and Turk turned their attention to Drake. "Leader, that's what I call the Gaiaphage. And the Gaiaphage, our Leader, contacted me in my dreams. He told me something that I couldn't believe. I guess Diana Ladris"—he sneer, a look of contempt, when he said her name—"got pregnant by me old buddy Caine because Diana just had a baby. Nerezza, my mission is to get to Lake Tramonto and bring that baby to the Gaiaphage."

"Let me guess, the Darkness is going to reshape the body to where it will fit his form?" Nerezza asked very mockingly.

"Yes," Drake answered. "But, since taking over is FAYZ is something we have to do right now, the way everything is going to happen has changed. Nerezza, Lisa, Emily, Brother, and Turk, you all go to Lake Tramonto separately. Nerezza, this is going to be good news; you're going to kill Orsay Pettijohn."

"What?" Nerezza screamed. "I thought she was dead! I killed, I killed her, I know I did!"

Drake laughed. "Oh, man, priceless. It looks like you didn't end up choking her hard enough because she's alive. The Gaiaphage told me she was. And she's at Lake Tramonto."

"I'll kill her by myself with my own bare hands!" Nerezza exclaimed, her face turning red. She thought she had killed Orsay. The news that the Prophetess was still alive wasn't good. It was true, Orsay was a prophet. Both Nerezza and the Darkness knew. Drake didn't. Orsay herself didn't. There were some things the Gaiaphage had to keep secret in order for the game to go as planned.

A lot of people in the FAYZ didn't believe Orsay truly was a prophet, but, oh, how they were wrong. She didn't even know herself, but she was. So much potential that went to waste. If only the people knew the truth, if only she herself knew . . . But, no, the Darkness told Nerezza it couldn't be told. It was an unspoken part of his game.

_He's like some spirit that is mocking John Kramer from those Saw movies_, Nerezza thought. _Hmm, I wonder how its evil game will end, how all the pieces will come together._

"So Nerezza will go to kill Orsay," Drake continued. "Now we need to figure out what the rest of you will do." He gestured towards Brother, Turk, Lisa, and Emily. "I guess from you four, break into groups of two. Since Turk and Lisa have both been in the Human Crew, give Lake Tramonto hell. You two will go as one group and Brother and Emily will go as the other."

"What about you?" Nerezza inquired.

"I'm going to take care of Penny," Drake said with a grin. "I haven't met her yet, but I know she's a three bar. That's pretty powerful."

"When do we break up to where we are supposed to go?" Nerezza queried.

"Now," Drake ordered. "Nerezza, go to Lake Tramonto and find Orsay. Brother, Emily, you two do whatever. Emily, I know you have the power of make people and other things around you transport, so don't make up any excuses. And don't try to run to Sam Temple or anybody and try to be saved. Do that and I will kill you. Lisa and Turk, you two know how to cause trouble. Anyway, if any of you see Sam Temple or Caine Soren, capture them, not kill. _I _am doing that part."

He nodded and then they all split up. Drake turned without a further word. He didn't know where Penny lived, so he would have to search every single house in Perdido Beach. There was no telling how long that would take. He was just hoping he would find it as soon as possible.

_Penny is at the house across from Ralph's Grocery._

Drake silently thanked the Gaiaphage for telling him her location. He had completely forgot that the Darkness knew a lot. Although the Gaiaphage had very nearly unlimited power, his knowledge was limited. Not he, but it. The Darkness kept a lot of things from him, but Drake thought that maybe the Gaiaphage had some sort of sex. And it was probably not a girl, so its sex had to be male.

The walk was lonely and silent, but it was worth it to Drake. He would probably play with Penny a bit. Drake had not played with anybody for a long time. He had a sadistic fixation on Diana, but he could no longer see her anymore. So he needed somebody else to be sadistic with. But never would he ever find somebody like Diana again. She was sarcastic, careless, and would always have a witty remark; she was a bad girl, nonetheless. Smoking hot, too. Sexy.

Sadism had been introduced to Drake by her. He didn't know what the word meant until the beginning of the FAYZ when Diana told him the meaning. Since that day, that single word described him.

When he saw Ralph's Grocery, Drake thought of going in and getting some food, but then he remembered that whoever stayed in Perdido Beach with Caine would most likely be here.

Fighting with a lot of people wasn't what he wanted to do at the moment. But then he was too tempted. Drake felt like going into Ralph's Grocery because if he did not go, it would make him seem scared. And he told himself he was not scared of anybody or anything. That was not true, though.

So Drake marched into the Grocery store, hungry and determined to get the best food he saw. There was hardly anybody there. Quinn Gaither, Albert Hillsborough, and a few others were at a stand, eating meat.

_Hmm, that looks delicious_, Drake thought, patting his stomach as he walked over to them. None of the people had seen him yet, which made him think of something. He should probably act casual and just walk over there and take a piece of the meat and talk to them. It would be so funny, he just knew it would.

Drake strolled over to stand by Quinn and Albert, two males that he had not seen or talk to in a long time. Drake very casually picked up a piece of meat and stuffed it into his throat. He turned to Quinn and Albert, who had the funniest, shocked looks on their faces.

"Hi, my peeps," Drake greeted, raising his Whip Hand, then waving it at them like it was a regular hand. The few others who Drake did not know screamed, most of them turning and running away. Drake busted out in laughter. If he didn't know any better, Drake would have guessed Quinn and Albert pissed their pants.

"W-what are you doing here?" Albert stammered.

"Get away," Quinn managed. "Please."

Drake frowned. "What? I got hungry and I knew you and Quinn would be nice enough to give me something to eat." He picked up more meat and swallowed it. "Mm, this is good. What kind of animal did you kill to get this, Mr. Fisherman Quinn?"

"Leave!" Albert bellowed. "Get away and never, ever come back!"

"Aw, I just wanted to mess with you," Drake said as if he were innocent. "I'm just playing. Gosh, why are you all acting like this? Oh, because I have a deformed arm? That is messed up, Albert and Quinn. That is like emotional bullying. You are excluding me from the group. Bullying."

"You're evil!" Quinn accused, backing away.

Drake grinned, lashing his whip hand, giving a hit to Quinn and a hit to Albert. The tentacle arm left large, long marks on their backs and they screamed in pain and very much agony.

"Thank you, that's all I wanted." Drake shrugged, still playing his innocent role. He turned, laughing, going to the exit of the grocery store. It was evil, he knew that, but it was just so funny. Drake sort of wished he had it on video so he could replay it.

But time was short. And he needed to start the taking over of the FAYZ now.

He went from Ralph's Grocery to the house straight across from the entry doors. Just like the Gaiaphage had told him.

The house was rather large, although it was only two bedrooms. Maybe the neatness of the home was what made it look bigger than it really was. The grass looked like it had been watered, something that you never saw in the FAYZ. _Penny must be watering her grass very often_, Drake thought.

He crossed the well-designed garden and stepped onto the porch. It was made of pure cement and beside the door were two chairs. _If two people live here, that just means more help. This is almost too easy._

Drake opened the door, a squeaking sound producing already. Soft voices resonated from somewhere in the house. Two voices. One male, one female. Two voices, two chairs on the porch. It could only mean Penny had a boyfriend, right? Maybe so. Probably not. Drake heard that she had the power to make people see things, make them hallucinate. They called her "Penny, The Monster Bringer." Drake couldn't think of somebody who would want to be with somebody like that.

—and then he figured it out with a burst of intuition. _He _would. Drake himself would love somebody like that. Somebody like Diana. People told him that she reminded them of him. That had earned one of Drake's shark smiles that scared most people.

It was a very comfy-looking home. The walls were a spotless white with no exceptions. The living room was the start of the house when Drake walked in. pressed against the east wall was a TV playing a DVD with the sound turned off. There was each one couch pressed on both the north and east wall. At the northeast was a small opening leading to a kitchen that was out of view.

Assuming that Penny was not in the kitchen, Drake turned where there was a larger opening to his right. It was a long corridor, the last part of the small home. _So I guess it's not as big as it looks._

At first, Drake checked every door, but then no longer had to when he heard a defining female scream. It was filled will hurt and agony. _Penny_. He walked a little faster to the end of the corridor, to the closed door on his right, where the scream came from, taking a deep breath before he swung the door open.

Lana, The Healer, the smoking hot girl that Drake had once captured, was standing over a thirteen year old girl that was pretty, but nothing like Lana. The girl looked very tired and exhausted, in pain. Lana had her hands over the girls legs, which were distorted, dried blood on them. They looked pretty much deformed, disgusting to Drake.

At the way back of the room, there was a tanned boy with his arms crossed, his face tense, as Lana's, looking directly down on the girl with the deformed legs. Drake knew that boy. He was one of the kid of two superstars. _Sanjit, that's his name_, Drake recalled. _Sanjit Brattle-Chance._

Drake lifted his shirt up, showing two things: his lean and muscled-up chest, his six pack, and his pants, which had a machine gun tucked into them. He pulled the gun out of his boxers.

"Everybody freeze."

**Author's Note: Okay, this is the second chapter of the story that is only following one person, the evil and very sadistic, Drake Merwin. Anyway, thanks to all of you reading my story. And that means we are maybe an eighth of the way through! Awesome! Ten chapters down, lots and lots to go! And I sure do hope more of you are reading it than reviewing because that wouldn't be so good, the fact that there are only three reviews pretty much proving that. My point is: Review, please! Thanks.**

FEAR


	11. ELEVEN

**ELEVEN|**

60 Hours, 43 Minutes

**CAINE SOREN **YAWNED. He rolled over in the bed and looked at Diana Ladris. He had fell asleep at Diana's house after she delivered the baby. Cassandra was wrapped tightly in Diana's arms, caressed ever so delicately. Both Diana and Caine fell right asleep after the birth process from sheer exhaustion.

Diana had allowed Caine to sleep in her bed, something that he had not done in a long time. Dahra, Lana, Sanjit, Astrid, and Sam had left as soon as possible, no longer wanting to be pressured with anything else. The birth of Cassandra last night had been the most stress-filled experience any of them had.

At the moment, Caine was debating on whether or not he should move in with Diana. She had obviously forgiven him and that was a good thing. The only problem is that he didn't want to give up his position as being King of Perdido Beach. If he did, it would ruin him. That would probably be the last straw for him. He would go crazy.

He watched Diana and his sleeping baby, Cassandra. They were both beautiful. Diana was beautiful in a way that attracted him, but Cassandra's beauty was different. She was elegant, a beauty that Caine could not explain but only look on at admiringly. According to Dahra, the baby was six pounds.

Diana's eyes flickered open and she sat up, yawning.

"Did Lana's healing work?" Caine asked.

"Yes," Diana responded. "I don't feel any pain at all. I guess that part worked. Goodness, I thank Lana so much. She brought me back to life, she healed me up after giving birth. What more could she do?"

Caine shrugged, shaking his head. "I don't know what else there could be. I bet she feels like a hero, having saved so many lives." He sighed, a sound signaling that he was inspired by Lana's work. "I wish I could be like that. But, no. I'm remembered as the bad guy. The one that tried to kill Sam Temple, my own brother. I'm still a bad person, I think. I just know it. I can feel that badness in me."

"I think you've changed," Diana admitted. "I always tell myself you will. And that you would come running back to me. But you didn't. All those nights I was by myself. Helpless. No protection. I'm not even witty anymore. No more smart remarks. This is a new Diana, Caine. Look what you did to me. How could you do that? You hurt me. I'm not the same. I just had a baby and I'm barely a teen!"

Caine was surprised when Diana got out of bed and walked over to him, pressing her head onto his neck, and started crying. He had never seen Diana Ladris cry. Not when she was giving birth, not when Drake almost killed her, never. And now she broke down. It was almost too much for him. He wrapped his arms around her and he, too, pressed his head against hers. And then something incredible happened: a tear fell from Caine Soren's eye. He was crying.

Diana felt the moisture of the tear and looked up. She gasped when she saw that he was crying. "You're . . . you're crying."

He did not have an answer to that. He himself didn't believe it. He was the most cold-hearted person to ever walk the earth, in his eyes. How could he cry? A while ago he would think it was a sign of weakness, but now it was almost seeming okay. It felt like a load of stress and unseen sorrow was released like a giant weight coming off of his shoulders.

Diana stared at him for a long moment, astonished that Fearless Leader had feelings. She studied him, this time looking deep into his eyes. Diana had once before looked into his eyes when the FAYZ started. At that time, they were deep and soulless. At this second, they looked like any normal pair of eyes if you didn't count the fear and frustration and sadness in them.

"What are you going to do, Caine?" Diana questioned. "I know you have to decide now. I can see it in your eyes and it's killing you. Are you going back to Perdido Beach or are you going to stay here with me?" The way she had laid out the options sounded simple. But they were not. In both of their heads, thoughts raced like cars would. If he stayed, he would no longer be King of Perdido Beach, a great accomplishment in his screwed up life. He wanted really badly to stay with Diana and Cassandra, but it would make him feel so low, so shallow.

Normally, if Caine was questioning on what to do, he would think to himself, sort his options out. But not this time. He felt comfortable enough to tell his baby's mama. "You know, if I am a better person like I thought I was, I would no doubt stay with you and Cassandra. But, I just don't know. You see, Diana, my parents didn't like me. They didn't want me. So they sent me to Coates. I've never had love in my whole life. The only person I cared about it you. You were the only one that loved me. And, when I lost you, it hurt. That's why I decided on becoming a better person. To try to get you back."

Diana looked puzzled. She hadn't expected to hear this from Fearless Leader. "What are you getting at, Caine?"

His lip quivered and then paused for a second. Out of nowhere, he bent forward, hugging his knees. "I want you so bad. I want everything back. Well, better than before. I want us to be decent people. Both of us. You already are. That's why you left me. But I just can't be a good person."

"I don't know what got into me," Diana whispered. "I don't know why I acted evil. I don't know why I followed you. But I do know this: I never want to be looked at as a bad person again. Caine, what are our parents going to do if the FAYZ wall comes down? We've killed people. Well, you have at least. But I helped you."

Caine stood up. "This is it, Diana. Enough. Here's what is going to happen: I will announce to everybody in my little kingdom, or whatever you want to call it, that I am resigning as King of Perdido Beach. I am going to start helping my brother, Sam Temple, with anything he needs me for. I now have a heart."

Diana looked straight into his eyes, expecting to detect some type of lie. But she didn't. She could see only truth. "You're not lying," she murmured. She reached for him. She didn't know what part she was grabbing for, but she knew she just wanted to hold him. So she just held up her hand and Caine took it, pulling her up and embracing her with a hug.

"No, Diana, I am not," Caine said truthfully. They both pulled away as their beautiful baby girl started to cry.

* * *

><p>There was a knock on the door. Sam was still lying down in he and Astrid's room, naked from his masturbating. He was just going to go for another round, but the knock had stopped him. He quickly jumped out of bed and threw his clothes on, running for the door without a shirt as he always did at home.<p>

Sam opened the door and it was Astrid. She was wearing a genuine smile. Sam immediately what had happened to cause the change of emotion from when he last saw her.

"Hey, Sam, what's up?" Astrid asked, still smiling. She stepped past him, entering the living room. She strode over to the bedroom, flicking on the light. She took a seat on the bed where Sam's shirt was lying. To Sam's luck, she didn't notice it.

"What caused the change in your mood?" Sam inquired.

"I was at Stefano Rey Park and I was crying," Astrid started, "but then I was thinking about depression and I remembered reading an article on it, saying that if there is someone who is depressed, that person might be able to heal themselves if they communicate with others more. So I went ahead and talked a little to Brother John and I had a long conversation with Orsay and Sinder."

"They are both pretty cool," Sam commented. "Sinder and I used to be really good friends. Not anymore, not since the FAYZ."

"Oh, well, I figured out that I have a lot in common with them," Astrid said. "I think that article might help me out. Either way, I'm still sad about Petey right now."

"I'm worried," Sam admitted. "I mean, he might have been the only one powerful enough to stop the FAYZ. I just wonder how we will get out now. I think soon enough the outside world will break the dome."

"If that's possible." Astrid paused, then her eyes went wide. "Oh, my gosh. We have to go to Caine and Diana right now." She got to her feet, taking Sam's hand in hers, and then pulling it.

"What? Why?"

"Little Pete. You know how he was the most powerful person in the FAYZ? I just got the most horrible idea, and I hope it's wrong."

"What is it?"

Astrid sighed. "I'm thinking that if two mutant people have a kid, especially when the father is a four bar, that their kid could be terribly powerful. A five bar, the only one like Little Pete."

Sam studied her expression. He didn't understand it. "I think it's a good thing. If Caine and Diana can get the baby to believe that it could stop the FAYZ, then I think their kid can make it happen."

"Cassandra isn't autistic," Astrid pointed out. "With Little Pete, the problem was that he was autistic. That's why he made all this happen. That's why he didn't know exactly how to stop it."

"Exactly," Sam said. "So it's a good thing. Cassandra will be able to stop the FAYZ."

"Assuming that she will be strong enough." Astrid exhaled audibly again. "Let's go to Diana and Caine and discuss this. I don't like going over things twice."

* * *

><p>Sam and Astrid got ready and walked out of their house together. The walk to Diana's house was very short, but they made it a little bit longer by walking very slowly. Astrid was wrapped in Sam's arms as they walked, and they were silent; there wasn't really anything they could talk about walking to Diana's home, only nine houses down.<p>

When Sam and Astrid were on Diana's front porch, Sam knocked on the door, and they waited for an answer. It only took a second for Caine to open the door, Diana right behind him, carrying the baby, Cassandra.

"Oh, well, hey, Sam," Caine greeted, smiling. His smile was just a regular smile, not the sarcastic and evil grin he usually wore. It surprised both Sam and Astrid.

"Um, Caine, do you think Astrid and I can come in?" Sam asked. "We need to talk to you and Diana about something."

"Sure," Caine allowed, stepping to the side, making a "come in," gesture with his hands.

Sam and Astrid came inside hesitantly. For Astrid, she noticed that the set-up was very similar to her house. The way the couches were facing each other, the TV pressed against the south wall, the way the lamps were on each side of the couches, it was all mesmerizing.

At first, Astrid was thinking Diana copied the way she had her living room set up, but then she quickly realized that Diana had never been into her home.

"Go ahead and take a seat on the couch, if you want," Diana offered politely.

Both Sam and Astrid went over to the couches and sat, Caine right behind them, taking a seat on the opposite couch from Sam and Astrid. He stared at both of them with life-filled eyes, unlike his usual unsatisfied, dead, and miserable glare.

"Do you want anything to drink?" Diana inquired. "We have water, tea, and coffee."

Sam and Astrid both snapped their heads towards Diana. "Did you just say you have water, tea, and coffee?" Astrid queried.

"Yes," Diana replied proudly. "Just like everybody else, we have plenty of water."

"Yeah, but nobody else has tea or coffee," Sam pointed out. "How did you get it?"

Caine smirked. "Nobody wanted to even attempt to raid my house like they did everybody else. They knew they'd get hurt. And my mother, before the FAYZ, would always drink tea and coffee all day. Her nickname for sites like Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube, was always Coffee And Tea. When I came over here to see Diana give birth to our beautiful baby, I stopped by my house before the FAYZ, and grabbed all that coffee and tea that nobody thankfully took, and brought it over here to Diana."

The way Caine spoke was with a mature tone. He sounded experienced, Sam noted. It was a different Caine, not the old Caine that loved to threaten to kill him. Not the Caine that had red, evil eyes.

"Sure, I will take tea any day," Astrid said, snapping Sam out of his thoughts.

"Me, too," Sam added, straightening up.

They sat silently as Diana exited the family room to go get the tea. Caine stared at Sam and Astrid, not thinking at all that he was being rude. Astrid stared at him back, feeling that if she looked away, Caine would think Astrid the Genius as inferior or think she was intimidated by him. Astrid refused to believe she was inferior to anyone at all. Sam, on the other hand, looked quickly away from Caine's stare with no attempt at hiding his intimidation. He was scared of Caine and honestly didn't care who knew it.

That was another thing about Sam Temple: he did not care what other people thought. He did not care if there was somebody who knew about his fear of Caine. He did not care if there was somebody who knew that Sam would like to never fight with Caine again in his life. He did not care if there was somebody who knew that Sam really did think Caine could kill him. However, there was some things Sam would like to keep secret, things that were personal.

He supposed that _was _personal, his feud with Caine, but so many people knew about it that it didn't feel at all personal. The personal things were like the fact that he had an obsession with masturbation, or the fact that he was dying without watching or looking at porn, and the fact that he wanted sex from Astrid _so bad_.

Diana returned to the living room, her hips swaying in that elegant way in which she always promenaded. She placed the steaming cup of tea on each of their laps, Sam, Astrid, and Caine taking it gladly.

Caine was the first to take a sip of tea, not puzzled at the sight of the beverage like Astrid and Sam was. Caine had been drinking tea ever since he went to the island where Sanjit and his siblings had formerly lived. Caine no longer thought that he wanted to kill Sanjit, not anymore. In fact, he had forgotten all about the day he had tried to kill Sanjit, and Diana attempted suicide to see how much Caine really loved her. So when he saw Sanjit last night, he didn't want to kill him anymore.

Sam and Astrid were musing at the cup of tea, thinking about how delicious it looked. The steam made it look that much more scrumptious. They were reminiscing about the good old days before kids had to fend for themselves.

"It's tea," Astrid murmured. "It's actual tea. I cannot believe I am drinking it." She raised the cup of tea with a shaky, stunned hand, and drank deep. She wasn't really drinking as she was gulping, just as Sam was. Neither of them noticed how wild and ravenous they really looked, until they saw Diana and Caine's expressions. Sam gulped one last time and was finished. He set the tea aside and he breathed in air deeply. Astrid was done with her tea very shortly after. They sat back, relaxed, enjoying themselves and the sweet taste in their mouths.

"Um, okay, so what did you drop by here for?" Caine requested, inspecting the expressions of Sam and Astrid.

Diana walked around the couch and came to take a seat by Caine, interlocking his fingers with hers. She then got into a comfortable position, where she caressed her head onto Caine's lap. Caine stroked her face, smiling at her with love-filled eyes.

Astrid spoke before Sam could say anything. Sam did not look at it as rude because he wanted very desperately not to be the one informing Caine and Diana about what might come to happen. The good parts, however, he did not mind telling them about. "Okay, so I was at the park, the Stefano Rey National Park, and I was talking to Orsay and Sinder. We were just talking about what was going on in the FAYZ when they brought up a good point: what happened when two powerful 'mutants freaks' have sex and have a kid? That got me to thinking. Diana, your power is to read other peoples power levels. Caine, your power is to suspend gravity, you're telekinetic. A two bar and a four bar give a baby a new life. That could be very dangerous and very helpful at the same time. Diana, there has only been one five bar in the FAYZ. We are thinking that this baby could have the potential to be the second five bar. If so, she will be the only five bar here in the FAYZ."

Sam carefully studied Caine and Diana as Astrid stopped speaking. They were frozen, their blank faces showing no emotion whatsoever.

Caine was looking down at Diana, his face horrified. "I thought I was the strongest person in the FAYZ, Diana. You . . . You lied to me. You told me there wasn't a far bar in the FAYZ."

Diana shook her head. "I've never, ever, read someone who was a five bar. I don't know what they are talking about."

"Astrid just said Cassandra was the _second _five bar in the FAYZ," Caine pointed out. "That means there _was _a person in the FAYZ that was five bars. And you're the only person in the FAYZ that can read powers, so you must have told them."

"No, no, no," Astrid yelled. "Diana didn't read the other five bar in the FAYZ."

"You just said Cassandra was the only five bar in the FAYZ that was alive," Diana whispered. "So, then, who _is _this five bar you are talking about?"

Sam saw that Astrid was sweating in confusion and nervousness, so he carried the conversation further. "All right, everybody just listen! The five bar that is no longer alive was Little Pete. You know, Peter Ellison, Astrid's brother." Sam shot a glance at Astrid, who was holding back tears at the reminiscing of throwing Little Pete to the bugs. "Caine, Diana didn't know Little Pete was a five bar, don't blame her. I am going to tell you something that is going to surprise you, but you have to keep this secret." Sam looked around the room and got nods from everybody.

"What is the secret?" Caine blurted.

Sam breathed in shakily before going on. "Okay, Little Pete was the five bar. If you are wondering how we know, it's because he is the one who started the FAYZ. Look, it's a long story that we don't have time to tell. Either way, he couldn't stop the FAYZ because he was autistic. He didn't know. And now he's dead. As far as we know, there's now no way to bring down the FAYZ. But we have one, only one, solution: Cassandra. She could hold the key to it all. Chances are, Cassandra's not autistic, and, if she starts to learn that the FAYZ is a bad place, she can possibly bring the barrier down. Now there are many complications to this prediction, and I want to go over them all."

There were confused faces all over the room. Even the speaker himself, which was Sam, was confused. Perhaps he didn't know what he was talking about either. Maybe he and Astrid's prediction was way over the top. Either way, the estimation had to be shared. There was always a possibility. Even if it sounded insane, anything could happen. The coming of the FAYZ proved that much.

"Okay, so, here's what I was thinking: we can't force the idea of just how terrible the FAYZ is on Cassandra because, if we do, then that might result badly later on down the road. Here's what we do; once she gets a little bit older, when she can understand things and how bad they are, she will probably make the FAYZ come down. What we can't do is pressure her. If we pressure her, there might be dire consequences, as I've said before."

"But what if she _is_ autistic?" Caine pressed. "What if she's autistic and there's no way for the FAYZ to come down?"

"There's only one way we can know about that," Astrid responded. "Dahra Baidoo. I'm sure Dahra knows how to determine if Cassandra is autistic. Although it's almost certain that Cassandra isn't autistic, we have to check. In this situation, we have to be one-hundred percent sure of everything if we want this to end well."

Just then, the baby girl started crying. She whined and she whined. Diana held her tightly, rocking her back and forth. Cassandra continued to cry—and then she wasn't the only one: Diana was also shedding tears, but they were of sorrow and sadness.

"That's what we do then," Astrid said. "We find Dahra Baidoo."

**Author's Note: Wow! So, I know this chapter didn't have any action, but I think it had **_**plenty **_**of drama! Towards the end of the chapter, when I was writing it, I was starting to get thrilled myself! How funny, isn't it? Anyway, I want to apologize for taking so long to update(I took **_**four months**_**!) I also apologize for the long paragraphs; I don't usually write long paragraphs, but, well, I guess there's a first time for everything. Okay, so, yeah, I am trying to squeeze all the **_**Gone **_**characters in, but there are a few that are going to have to wait, such as Jill, The Siren, and Justin. Last, but not least, I have a question: is there anything you want to know about, or anybody you want to see more often in the story? If so, just go ahead and comment! Before I end this chapter, I just wanted to note, for the record, that this is the longest chapter . . . YET ! Only by two words, in fact. Please, comment/review! Thanks!**

FEAR


	12. TWELVE

**TWELVE|**

60 Hours, 11 Minutes

**QUINN GAITHER'S **THOUGHTS raced. Albert Hillsborough was with him. They were at Ralph's Grocery, sorting the food and putting the food where it needed to go. Most of the food were fish, some of it fruit, some vegetables, and very little were things like steak. They had both been silent, not wanting to even speak about why Drake Merwin had stopped by. But, finally, Quinn decided he just had to speak.

"Albert?" Quinn called.

"Yeah, Quinn?" Albert returned.

"You know how Drake Merwin came?"

"Yes."

"Why do you think he came over here. Like, why to Perdido Beach? He let us live, he didn't really care about us," Quinn said.

"I don't think he's coming for us, that's why."

"Shouldn't we, like, report it to Caine or something? You know, when he gets back from Lake Tramonto?" The tone of Quinn's voice was filled with worry. He looked at his back that had stopped bleeding, then he glanced over to Albert's back, which was no longer bleeding as well. "And, also, these cuts, Albert. Shouldn't we go to Lana about these cuts?"

"Business first," Albert snapped. "Medical things later. Perdido Beach needs to be organized. I'm thinking that, after we finish organizing the food, we can go to Lake Tramonto and get Lana to heal us. I just have to make sure that Perdido Beach stays in top-of-the-notch state. There is hardly anybody living here anymore, but, for those few people, we got to make them feel comfortable. Plus, we still work for people at Lake Tramonto as well. Don't forget about that."

Quinn sighed. "I know. You know, Albert, I think we simply work too hard. Here we are, large gashes in our backs, and yet we are still working." He shook his head very slowly.

"Hey, when we go over to Lake Tramonto and get Lana to heal us, let's just stop by Diana's house and report to Caine at that moment," Albert said. "You know, that way we save time."

"I didn't think of that," Quinn admitted. "Well, I think I am going to stay over at Lake Tramonto for the day. You know, take a break, see my buddy Sam. I work all day and I think I need a break."

Albert nodded in agreement. "Yeah, so what do you think Caine is gonna do? People are saying he and Diana are going to make up once the baby is born. You know, they are saying he is going to forfeit being King of Perdido Beach and stay with Diana and help raise their kid."

"I think he is going to stay with Diana," Quinn replied. "Haven't you noticed that he isn't acting all evil and stuff? I think it is true that he is following karma. Penny was the one that told us about that, right?"

"Yeah," Albert answered. "Remember, Penny tells us all the stuff Caine tells her. She's practically his counselor. He goes to her with all his problems. They are kind of like best friends, if you don't include Bug."

"Oh, yeah," Quinn recalled. "Wait, so if she _is _somewhat his counselor and he goes to her about everything, she would, like, tell him not to stay with Diana, right? 'Cause, you know how Penny is jealous of Diana since she likes Caine and all."

"Good point," Albert said. "But do you _really _think that Caine would listen to Penny about that one? He knows that Penny would try to persuade him on the subject."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Quinn said, looking at the racks and shelves supporting the cans and foods. "So, it looks like we're done now, huh?"

Albert placed one last can on the shelve, stepped back, and said, "Yep. It looks like we are done." He made a sound as he looked at the gash on his back.

Quinn walked over to Albert, patting him on the back. "All right, buddy, let's go over to Lana and get healed."

They both walked out of Ralph's Grocery, locking up. It was strange: Albert and Quinn were developing a strong friendship because of their interests in business. Quinn, the Fisherman, and Albert Hillsborough, the Business Man.

* * *

><p>Edilio Escobar retuned home. He stuck the key into the lock, turned it, and the door opened with ease. He stepped into the living room, walked down the hall, and called, "Toto? Toto, where are you, boy?"<p>

"I'm over here with Spidey, Edilio," Toto answered.

The call came from Toto's room, so Edilio made his way down the main hall over there. He opened the door and found Toto lying on the bed, reading another comic book of _Spider-Man_.

"Don't you wanna watch the movie of Spider-Man, or something?" Edilio asked. "I mean, there's nothing wrong with reading so often, I just want you to know that there is other things to do in the FAYZ now that Computer Jack has gotten everything running again, son."

"It's okay, Edilio, Spidey and I just want to read," Toto confirmed.

"All right," Edilio said, closing Toto's door.

Edilio walked over to the living room, shuffled through his DVD rack, found _Saw_, one of his favorite movies, and inserted it into the DVD Player.

While Edilio watched the movie, he thought deeply. This was something he always did when he watched any type of movies. Before the FAYZ, he wouldn't have done this, but, with all the problems in his current life, Edilio needed a good thinking session to keep his mind cleared and not become crazy.

He remembered his life before the FAYZ. He could still remember everything. He could still remember moving to Perdido Beach from Honduras, and, then, only two weeks after, everybody the age fifteen and over disappeared.

Thinking back, he really did wish his parents would have stayed in Honduras with him. But, no. He, his parents, and his brothers just _had _to move over here. At first, he thought it was going to be a lot better. And it was. Especially school. But, to his luck, two weeks later, he was trapped in the FAYZ.

Edilio remembered his father telling him that he was going to be called things like a "wetback." He knew he would be called that. And, it wasn't till the coming of the FAYZ that he had been called that; the only person to call him a wetback was Quinn Gaither. He had been pretty offended and wanted to knock Quinn's teeth out, but he had just used words instead, informing Quinn that he was not from Mexico, but from Honduras.

At the moment, Edilio was just going through every detail about him, every event of his life. He missed going to church, he missed his parents, his brother, especially Alvaro, his brother who was in Iraq.

For the first time, Edilio wondered why this was happening to him. Why was he in the FAYZ, why was he being punished? He never did anything _really _bad in his life. There had to be a reason. There was always a reason to everything.

Edilio remembered the time that he was made fun of because of his height. He didn't mind anybody pointing out that he was short, although he did thank it was rude. But this boy was different. This boy was bullying Edilio because of it.

"Aha, you shrimp!" the boy had laughed. "Look at you, you're a little wimp, that's all you are!"

"Please, take your hands off of me," Edilio requested calmly.

Instead, the boy socked him in the stomach. Edilio had clutched at his stomach, falling to the ground as people all over gathered around them, cheering them on to fight. He had stood up as fast as he could, his face red with pain. Edilio put his hands in front of his face and then threw a wild fist at the bully.

The boy had screamed out, reeling backwards, blood in the air. Edilio was going to beat on the kid more until he noticed that he had busted the boys nose open. That was when his parents decided that they needed to move over to America.

Only if that never would have happened, only if he had not gotten into that fight, his parents would probably have waited a while longer before moving to America, and he would never have been trapped under this stupid dome.

_Under the dome_, Edilio thought. That sounded like a great title to a book or movie or TV show. If it would be a book, he would probably have chosen his favorite author, Stephen King, to write it. _Under the dome by Stephen King._

He laughed for a second. _Nah, I don't think there will ever be a book like that._

* * *

><p>"Are you ready, Brianna?" Computer Jack asked.<p>

The Breeze, Brianna, was standing at the Stefano Rey National Park with Jack. They were doing a test: Brianna was going to see how long it would take her to run from Stefano Rey National Park to her house in Lake Tramonto and back. Jack had the timer in his hand, ready to press it as soon as he got the signal.

"And . . . _Go!_" Brianna shouted, taking off. Jack started the timer, wondering himself how long it would take.

Brianna moved her feet like she always did when running, one foot in front of the other. She had never liked to run before the FAYZ came, but it was a whole different story now that she had the power.

She stopped at her house merely a few seconds later, then turned around, heading back for the Stefano Rey National Park. She stopped when she returned to Jack. He smiled at her, and she returned it.

"Thirty-two seconds," Jack cheered.

"That was almost _too _easy," Brianna said.

Jack rolled his eyes. "I'm sure it was, Breeze." He looked at her for a second, and then they both laughed. Neither of them spoke after that, so they stared at each other because of the awkward silence. And then there was a tingle in each of their spines.

Brianna knew what it was. She reached involuntarily to Jack, who did the same. Jack didn't know what was in him, but all he knew was that he was suddenly pressing his lips against Brianna's.

Something connected. Spiritual? Maybe. But it was a weird feeling. Brianna knew instantly that it was love, but it took Jack a second to sort it through.

They both pulled away. Brianna had kissed guys here and there, experienced love, but Computer Jack had not. This was his first time kissing a girl. The way he moved his tongue in her mouth felt so right, so good, pleasing. He thought he did a bad job, though.

The Breeze was dazzled. Never before had she kissed somebody with such passion. It was, without a doubt, the best kiss of her life. That showed Brianna how much she really loved Jack. She had boyfriends in the past, but Jack was different because she actually had been living with Jack for almost a year now.

"Was I any good?" Jack asked shyly.

"Yes," Brianna answered, smiling her friendly smile. "In fact, nobody has ever kissed me as good as that. Jack, that was amazing."

"That wasn't your first kiss, was it?" Jack inquired.

"Sad to say it, but nope."

"Oh, don't make fun of me, but it was for me," Jack admitted.

"It doesn't matter to me." Brianna shrugged. She then looked him in the eyes and didn't break her gaze like she usually did. "Do you know what that kiss made me realize?"

"What?"

"Computer Jack, I love you," Brianna said proudly. "I love you, not because of your looks—although I have to say you are just _adorable_!—but because of your awesome personality. I love you're the fact that you are intelligent and that you are a dork!"

"I love you, too." Computer Jack slapped his right hand over his mouth, stunned at what he just told her. Maybe it was an accident? But, when he thought about it, he knew it was no accident. He really did love her.

And she really did love him.

* * *

><p>Dekka Talent was sitting in her living room, watching a movie. The Breeze and Computer Jack had left a while ago to go do some test on Brianna's speed. She already missed them both. She loved them both. She loved Jack in a way that showed friendship. The way she loved Brianna was different. She hated her feelings for Brianna. She sort of wished she never met Brianna so that she wouldn't be going through so much pain at the moment. She wished she wasn't a lesbian.<p>

She sighed. Dekka was bored out of her head. She had nothing to do. She supposed she could go see her buddy, Sam Temple—who she hadn't seen in a long time—but chances were that he wasn't going to be home. He was probably going to be doing something, especially with Diana having just delivered her baby.

Maybe Dekka could go look for him, that would give her something to do. Or maybe she could go looking around for Sam. That would be something that would keep her busy.

_Dekka, I know what we're gonna do today_, she thought. _We are going to roam around Lake Tramonto like an idiot, looking for our buddy Sam Temple, who is too busy to even squeeze us into his schedule, I can imagine._

Dekka got to her feet, exiting the living room and going outside, stepping into the fresh days air. The temperature was well today, cool but nowhere near warm. That's sort of how it always felt in the FAYZ.

At first, she was unsure where to go. Then, she decided that she would stop by Dahra Baidoo's house. That was probably where Sam was, _if _he was still helping Diana get everything together about the baby. If he wasn't there, she would try Edilio's house, and, if not there, she would finally try to Sam's own house. If she couldn't find them at that point, she would give up. Lucky for her, Dahra Baidoo lived nearby.

Only a few minutes later, Dekka was on Dahra Baidoo's front steps, knocking on the door.

"Hey, Dekka!" Dahra's tone was surprised as she stood in the doorway, opening the door and smiling a genuine smile. "What brings you here, sister?"

"Nothing really, just looking for Sam Temple," Dekka said, hoping that Dahra would say he was with her right now, sitting there in her living room or bedroom.

"Really?" Dahra questioned. "Well, you just missed him. He left a few moments ago. He, Astrid, Diana, and Caine came over. They wanted me to check their baby for autism."

"Why is that?" Dekka requested, forgetting about Sam and now completely interested in what Dahra had to say about Diana and Caine's baby.

"Come in and I will tell you all about it!" Dahra left the door open and made her way past the tidy living and to the kitchen, Dekka following behind her. Dahra pulled out a chair and offered Dekka to take a seat. Dekka took the seat gladly, sitting patiently, waiting for Dahra to sit as well.

Dahra made a cup of ice water for Dekka. She made one for herself as well, then came to take a seat across from Dekka.

"Okay, Dekka," Dahra said when she sat down. "This is important and serious. If I tell you what's going on, I am going to need to you to keep it a secret, all right?"

Dekka only shook her head.

Dahra continued. "Okay. So, Caine Soren, Diana Ladris, Sam Temple, and Astrid Ellison came over earlier. I was surprised to see the two most important couple of the FAYZ at my door. Especially because they are, like, enemies. So, anyway, they came in and sat down. We just, you know, talked at first. Sam told me that he and Caine were putting their differences aside, you know, making peace."

Dekka leaned forward, taking a sip of the cold water, now really getting into the story, but keeping all of the arising questions to herself.

"Caine promised that he really did change and he was now a good person," Dahra went on, "and the strange thing about his statement was that Diana, Astrid, and Sam all seemed to support it."

_He _did _change_, Dekka thought.

"Cassandra, Caine and Diana's little baby, was with them, too. You should see her, she's just so _adorable_!" Dahra said. "Anyway, they wanted me to check if she had autism. So I found my medical book and I looked up some procedures. I did the procedures and the results were that Cassandra _doesn't _have autism."

"Thank goodness," Dekka whispered.

"Yeah, so then I asked them about why they wanted me to check if she had autism." Dahra shook her head. "It was a pretty long and complicated answer. It turns out, Little Pete, you know, Astrid's little brother? Well, he was autistic and everything, but he was a five bar. His power had no limits. He was the one who caused the FAYZ, the only one that could bring it down. But, remember how Astrid threw him to those bugs? Well, he just disappeared when she did that. He's not dead, he just . . . Gone. Like all the adults. We don't know what happened to him or them. Anyway, Cassandra might be the second five bar. They don't know anything for sure yet."

"Lemme guess: their prediction is that when two mutant freaks have a kid together, the kid is going to be a five bar," Dekka said. "The power of the kid will be limitless. Like Little Pete's power was."

"Exactly. But the difference between Cassandra and Little Pete is that Cassandra isn't autistic. So she will know what to do with her power a lot more than Little Pete did. Because of this, we all are thinking she is going to be the one to take down the FAYZ. If she has the power that Little Pete had, we know for sure that she can do it. The only problem is that we can't make her do it now. We can't pressure her, we have to let her learn on her own that she can take down the FAYZ wall. That she has the power."

"How long do you think that will be?" Dekka asked.

"I'm not sure. If you think about it, almost all the kids in the FAYZ are aware of what's going on. We could have to wait until she's five years old, maybe ten, maybe even till she's fifteen. We don't know. So, if Cassandra has the power that Little Pete had, it is certain that she can take it down. If she does have the power, at least we know we have a time frame. At least we know that there will be an ending of the FAYZ . . . Someday."

_Cassandra probably has the power to bring down the FAYZ wall, the FAYZ barrier, the dome_, Dekka thought. _The only question is: will she?_

* * *

><p>Charles Merriman, Orc, and his best buddy, Howard, had just finished passing out all of the fish. If the residents of the home they were at didn't answer the door, Orc and Howard would just live it on their front porch. Howard enjoyed the fact that Sam Temple hadn't been home. That way, he could just leave the fish on Sam and Astrid's front porch and it would hopefully rot. He hoped it did. He did not like Sam. Maybe he was jealous. But, either way, he was sick and tired of Sam. School Bus Sam. Mr. Hero, Sam. Howard thought of Sam as a fake. Like the attack of the bugs at Perdido Beach. Sam hadn't been there. Sam was always coincidentally not at the scene.<p>

_Coincidence my ass_, Howard thought.

Orc didn't have any problems with Sam. He wasn't jealous. And that really bugged Howard. But Orc didn't care. In fact, he kind of liked Sam. Even though Orc had beat the crap out of Sam multiple times in the past, they were cool now. Charles felt like he really had matured. He was like an adult now.

Howard and Orc had returned to their two-bedroom cabin, collapsing onto Howard's bed out of sheer exhaustion. Passing out food to the entire FAYZ population sure was hard work, but it paid off: they got more food than everybody else. Better food, at that.

"It only took a couple of hours," Howard pointed out. "That's a new record. It usually takes us till sundown."

Orc breathed out loudly. "Yep. I used to be sort of chunky before I came to Lake Tramonto. Now, look at me. I almost look as lean as Drake Merwin now."

"If he's still alive," Howard said. "Think about it: how long has it been since we've seen or heard of him? It's been a hell of a long time since I've seen him. Eleven months. Almost a year."

"It's been nine months since _I've _seen him," Orc said. "I fought him to protect Astrid. I was drunker than a skunk when we fought that time. If I hadn't been drunk, I bet I could've killed him."

Howard didn't respond. He was only quiet. Orc had the confidence to think that he could kill Drake Merwin, but even Howard knew that Drake couldn't die.

"So what do we do now?" Howard inquired.

"I dunno." Orc shrugged. "Maybe we can relax a little, then go around and try to find some beer. You know, so we can have a good time. Howard, maybe you can drink a little and see how it's like to be drunk."

Howard sighed. "Orc, you've gotten me drunk before. I already told you I don't like the hangover. Man, I hate the headache. It makes me feel like crap."

"Whatever," Orc muttered. "You should see how you act when you are drunk. It's the funniest thing a human being will ever see. You always get into fights. But the really funny thing is when you dance."

Howard shook his head, wondering if he really did act that way or if Orc was lying. "All right. Fine. We'll see about me drinking."

Orc got to his feet. "But first, before we try to find beer, we got to go to Perdido Beach and do that favor Caine asked of us."

* * *

><p>John Terrafino was tired. It was only afternoon and he was already exhausted. Upset. Sad. Depressed. Missing his sister, mother, and father. Mary, the most. Mother Mary, his sister, was the closest person he had. And she poofed. She had disappeared.<p>

He was upset because Caine had lied. Caine didn't send two helpers. It was messed up. John had gotten his hopes up and now they were completely shattered.

Sighing, John stood up and clapped his hands together, trying to get the kids attention. "Okay, guys. Time for nap time. Everybody go to the back of the day care and get your sleeping bags or mats. After Nap Time, we are—"

The door bell to the Day Care rung, interrupting John's speech. He quit talking, walking over to the door slowly, wondering who would want to be coming over to the Day Care center.

John peeked out of the peephole to see who it was. A rush of joy and gratitude swept through him as he very quickly opened the door, anxious to greet them; Edilio Escobar, his little roommate that John thought was called Toto The Truth Teller, Charles Merriman—also known as Orc—Howard, Taylor, and a gothic-looking girl that John thought was named Sinder, were all standing on the front porch.

"Hello, can I help you?" John queried.

"Yeah, John," Taylor said. "Caine sent us six to help you out with the Day Care. We are going to be working here for a week or so. Caine told us that every week, he will select different people to help you out. He and Sam both decided that was the routine. I guess their like cool now or something. You know, teaming together to make the FAYZ a better place."

_Thank you, Caine_, John thought. _You really _are _a better person now._ Then, speaking to the six people at the door, "Okay, well, go ahead and come in, guys. I had scheduled shifts for two people to be working here, but now that Caine sent six, I guess I will have to reschedule."

John turned and walked back into the Day Care, where the kids were all choosing their places to put their mats. He took a seat on his rocking chair, smiling, happy that Caine followed through with his promise.

Edilio, Toto The Truth Teller, Taylor, Sinder, Howard, and Orc, all followed, standing right next to John's chair, awaiting for John to tell them their shifts.

"Okay, I am going to have to set up a schedule for six people in twenty-four hours. I want two people at a time working here. So that would mean twenty-four divided by three is . . ." He paused, doing the math. "That means I want two people working here for eight hours. After those two people have worked here for eight hours, the next two people work for eight hours. And, after those two people work for eight hours, the next and last two people work for the final eight hours."

"So what's the plan?" Edilio questioned.

John rubbed his chin, looking at the people and thinking. "Toto doesn't count. So what will happen is, at midnight, Edilio and Sinder will come over and take their eight hour shift. At eight o' clock in the morning, Edilio and Sinder will leave, then Howard and Orc come and do their eight hour shifts. They will leave at four in the evening, and then Taylor and I will come for eight hours and do the last shift. Then, when our shift is done, it will be midnight again, and the whole process starts all over."

"I noticed you said that Toto doesn't count," Edilio pointed out. "Does that mean he can't be here at the Day Care or what?"

"No, it means that he doesn't have to work," John said. "He can come with you and Sinder when you both do your shifts, but he is a little kid so he doesn't count as working."

"Okay, I get you now."

John looked up at the clock and saw that it was going to be four in the evening in just a couple of minutes. "This is awesome: our schedule is going to start right now. I'll stay here with Taylor until midnight, then Edilio, Sinder, and Toto will come over until eight in the morning. After they leave, Howard and Orc will do their eight hours, and, finally, it's back to me and Taylor. Are we all clear on the schedule?"

"Yes," everybody agreed in unison.

"All right," John said, standing up. "Everybody can leave now except Taylor and I since it is our shifts right now. But, remember, at midnight, Edilio, Toto, and Sinder will come over. After them, Howard and Orc."

Edilio, Toto, Sinder, Howard, and Orc all walked back to the front door, exiting, leaving. Taylor stayed, walking up to John.

"Okay, John," Taylor said, "so what are you going to do right now with the kids?"

"Well, it's Nap Time."

"Nap Time at this time of day?" Taylor requested. "Isn't Nap Time usually like two hours earlier?"

"Yeah," John admitted. "But I am so exhausted, I need a break. They usually nap for an hour or two, so a little rest would be good."

Taylor put her hand on John's shoulder. "John, you are exhausted, aren't you?"

"I sure as hell am." John nodded in agreement, then he laughed at his own humor. "Anyway, enough about me. How've you been?"

"I've been okay," Taylor said. "You know, basically, I'm excluded from everybody else. But it's okay because it's my choice. I am choosing to teleport to the island, eat all I want, do whatever I want. But I am starting to feel kind of lonely so I came back here to Perdido Beach. When I came back, I saw Caine leaving Ralph's Grocery. He told me Diana had just went into labor. We talked very briefly and when I asked if he had anything he needed me to do, he told me that he needed one last member to participate this week in keeping the Day Care running. I agreed and here I am. Anyway, the main reason I agreed to helping was because I know how much of a hard worker you are, John, and I thought you could use a break."

"Yeah, I do need a break," John said weakly, thinking about what he was going to say next. "After Mary poofed, my work became double and, man, I am becoming so very exhausted, it's not even funny. Sometimes, I feel like I am going to pass out. A teenage boy should never feel like that."

"That's right," Taylor agreed. "None of us kids deserve to be working this hard." She stopped, revising what had just came out of her mouth. "No, you know what? I have not been a hard worker at all. I haven't even been helping and that makes me feel guilty."

"It's okay. But thanks for helping. I really need some time alone to think things over, especially M-M-Mary." He stopped speaking and then Taylor looked up to see what was wrong: John had just broken into tears, crying very audibly, sobbing like never before.

Feeling bad for him, Taylor wrapped her arms around John's shoulders, comforting him, telling him, "It's okay, John, everything's gonna be all right."

She only wished she, herself, could believe that lie.

**Author's Note: I liked writing this chapter, especially the last scene with John and Taylor. I'm surprised at how long this chapter was. It's the longest chapter in the story so far, coming in at twenty-one pages on my Word Processor. If you know my style of writing, you would know that I never write chapters this long. Sorry for taking so long to update; I didn't have access to the Internet for over a week. But, either way, thanks for the support and comments. I wanted to give special thanks to the reader who said my story was his/her "new addiction." That inspired me to finish this story pretty quickly and I guarantee the chapters to this story will be put up a lot faster from now on. Please, comment/review. Thanks you!**

FEAR


	13. THIRTEEN

**THIRTEEN|**

55 Hours, 53 Minutes

**Lana Arwen **Lazar and Sanjit Brattle-Chance walked past the lawn of Bug's house. They were sure this was Bug's home because he had told them it was directly across from Ralph's Grocery.

Sanjit opened the door slowly, allowing Lana to enter first, just as a gentleman would do. He went in right after her, shutting the door behind them. They looked around the nicely-decorated living room.

"Penny?" Sanjit called, not knowing where she was because he didn't know the lay-out of the house. "Where are you? Can you hear me?"

There was no answer, so, together, Sanjit and Lana both started to look around the house, trying to locate the girl. On their left was the kitchen. Sanjit looked in the kitchen and Penny was not there. Lana entered the hall to her right.

It was a corridor. They checked every room in order to find out that Penny was at the way back room on the right. It was presumably her bedroom.

The twelve year old girl, Penny, was quietly asleep under the covers of her master bed. A fluffy, pink pillow was beneath her head, and thick, purple-spotted blankets covered her. All around the room were posters. It was fair enough to say that this looked at least like an average teenage-girls bedroom.

Lana walked over to the girl and shook her lightly. The girl mumbled something unintelligently, tossing, turning, in her bed. Lana shook her with a little more forced and Penny's eyes flickered open.

"Ah!" Penny screamed, and then all of a sudden, there were millions of bugs in the room, from cockroaches to caterpillars to worms. The insects reminded both Lana and Sanjit of the greenies, those things with the gnashing mouth parts.

Sanjit stomped his feet down, smashing the bugs as Lana could only scream, stumbling backwards, smashing her back on the wall. She kicked her legs wildly, too lost in fear to do anything else.

Then, abruptly, the bugs disappeared. Lana stopped her screaming and Sanjit nearly collapsed with relief. It took them a second to compose themselves, then look at Penny, who was smiling wickedly.

_Maybe this is why they call her Penny, The Monster Bringer,_ Lana thought.

"Stop where you are at," Penny commanded. "Now, I want you to explain yourselves. Why are you here, Lana? And, you, boy, aren't you that one from the island, the one that Caine was going to kill?" They opened their mouth to say something, but she added, "No, Lana, The Healer, or whatever they call you, answer my question first? Boy, you answer me after her."

"Okay, Penny, isn't that your name? You obviously know me. Anyway, Bug sent me to heal her. Sanjit is my boyfriend, he came with me. That's why he's here."

Penny took her eyes away from Lana and focused them on Sanjit. "You! You cost me my legs! If you weren't alive, this never would have happened!" She threw the cover off of her to reveal her distorted legs covered with dry blood.

Sanjit felt like he wanted to puke, but he managed to say, "I'm sorry. I didn't think that would happen to you. I came here with Lana, we are going to heal your legs, just don't use your power on us."

"Penny The Monster Bringer. That's what I'm called." She paused. "All right, fine. Go ahead and heal my legs. If either of you try anything funny, I'm going to use my power."

Very carefully, Lana crept over to Penny, gently and hesitantly pressing her two palms on Penny's legs, then moving them up and down. "Okay, Penny, I am healing you. This is going to take a second."

"Whatever," Penny mumbled.

Each time Lana rubbed a spot on Penny's legs, the cuts, the scars, would fade away. The purplish-red exposed meat would no longer show, instead healed. It only took a couple of minutes until there was nothing on Penny's legs at all. No more dried blood. No more exposed flesh. The gashes were there and then just . . . Gone. It freaked the hell out of Penny.

When she saw that Lana had completely healed her, Penny was hesitant. Should she try to move her legs? If she did, would it hurt?

"Go ahead," Sanjit offered. "Try to walk."

Penny slowly lifted her legs off the bed and onto the floor. She felt strength in them. Something she had not felt in a long time. Penny stood, amused. She slowly moved her legs, and then she was walking. As if her legs had never been twisted this way and that. Just like a normal person.

_Yes_, Penny thought inwardly.

"Hold on," Lana said. "I want you to climb back on the bed. There are some scars that need to be taken away."

With a single nod, Penny walked over to the bed proudly, sitting down. Lana pressed her two hands on Penny's legs again. Only a second later, there was no longer any scars. Penny had perfect legs.

Right when Lana was going to pull her hands away, the bedroom door swung up quickly. It had opened so forcefully that the doorknob had left a hole in the wall and the door itself looked like it was going to fall off.

_Oh, no_, Sanjit thought.

Lana was frozen in fear at the figure that stood before her, the boy with the Whip Hand, the boy who had just pulled out a Semi-Automatic Machine Gun from his boxers and was pointing it straight toward her.

"Everybody freeze."

Penny laughed, not a bit terrified like Sanjit and Lana were. "So this is Drake Merwin? The scary guy I've been hearing a lot of lip about?"

Drake grinned an evil grin, a shark grin. "Why, yes I am Drake Merwin. Why do you ask? Have you been waiting to meet the man of your dreams?" Drake laughed.

"Over my dead body!" Penny returned. "Look at you. Nothing about you is scary. The only thing you have that most people don't is a whip for an arm and a hell of a lot of muscle."

"Thank you," Drake said, focusing on Lana and Sanjit.

"So, tell me, Drake. Why did you come here?"

"I've heard about you. Penny The Monster Bringer, is that what they call you?" He laughed. "There's nothing scary about you either. You're kind of cute, so what? I've heard you're a three bar, is that true?"

"You tell me."

Penny would let Drake decide if she was a three bar. She made a pink, furry, large, fat animal with pink talons for finger nails and razor-sharp teeth appear. The thing leaped forward, ready to attack Drake.

She expected him to scream. To stumble back, scared out of his mind. But he didn't. Instead, Drake lashed his whip arm out, slicing the creatures fur.

It let out a painful shriek, then readied its claws and its teeth for attack as it sprung itself forward yet again. Still, Drake wouldn't back down. He whipped his arm out again, this time much quicker than before, one, two, three and four times.

The illusion, the monster, was dying. Penny couldn't believe what she was seeing. _She _was the one who could make people have hallucinations, and yet Drake was killing this unreal animal. She had to admit that this made her fear Drake Merwin a little bit.

Penny stopped using her power, letting the creature disappear from existence. "Now, tell me, Drake. Do you think I am a three bar?"

Drake gave her a wicked smile. "Of course. But don't feel bad that you can't use your little power to beat me. Sam and Caine are four bars and even _they _can't defeat me. I'm eternal."

Sanjit was now cuddling Lana who was letting tears fall from her eyes. She was scared of Drake Merwin. She always had been. And she knew his intention wasn't to let them walk away alive. Even if he did let them live, he would definitely hurt them at the least.

"Why are you here?" Penny repeated, her voice taking on a threatening, mean, and rude edge.

"I am going to give you the best offer you'll ever get in your life," Drake announced. "Come with me, Penny. Help me take over the FAYZ. We'll take down Caine Soren, the King Of Perdido Beach. After that, I'll be the king. You'll be my queen. How 'bout it?"

Penny debated on his offer for a moment. She liked Bug as dorky and unknowing as he was. She knew he liked her, too, but that he was nervous and shy. However, this was the offer she had been waiting for. Being Queen of Perdido Beach would mean so much to her. But she did not want to kill Caine, like Drake had just told her.

"Deal," Penny agreed, smiling vilely. "I'll help you. But Caine doesn't die. Leave Lana alone, she healed my legs. Sanjit, I don't care what you do to him. That little, stupid motherfucker cost me my legs. But don't kill him, I don't want to make Lana sad." Penny walked towards the door, feeling great, then turned to look back at Lana. "Thanks, Lana."

Drake stared hard at Sanjit. "It looks like you're in for one hell of a whipping."

* * *

><p>Bug entered the library. It was very cool, sort of chilly. It looked uncanny to him; he'd never seen the library so empty. There had always been people at the library before the FAYZ. Now there wasn't. He was the first person to come to the library since Albert Hillsborough did at the beginning of the FAYZ.<p>

Usually, Bug would come to the library to check out comics. But it had been seventeen months since he had done that. When the FAYZ started, he no longer checked out comic books. He was too busy helping Caine out, trying to spy on Diana getting undressed, and, recently, taking care of Penny.

He walked further into the Perdido Beach Library, not at all in a rush. Bug wanted to spend a lot of his time here, mostly so he could have memories of his life before the FAYZ brought back to him.

After glancing at a few comic books, a few fiction, and some autobiography, he went over to the teen section. He was tired of reading comics, so he thought he would pick out something a bit more mature.

Only a few minutes later, he decided it was time to move on before he got too caught up in his book search.

Since Bug didn't know where the sex books were, he strolled over to the reference section and tried to find them somehow. It took a while, but after some hardcore searching, he found a book called _Sex 101_. Beside it was _Sex For Dummies_ and _Idiot's Guide To Sex_.

Bug grabbed all three of them, walking over to one of the reading tables in the middle of the library. He got as comfortable as he could get, then decided that he didn't want to be here all day, so he got to his feet again, then began searching the library for something to put the books in, like maybe a backpack or something; he didn't want anybody seeing him carry around three sexual education books. He would probably be made fun of on not knowing about sex if anybody saw him. And that was the last thing he wanted.

After only a few minutes, Bug found a black backpack behind the librarians desk. Well, at least it used to be the librarians desk. There were no librarians now, no more adults.

Bug headed out of the library and towards his house. The walk wasn't very long, but walking was the time when Bug did all his thinking.

There was some part in him that felt guilty. Guilty for trying to make Penny have sex with him. But he quickly dismissed that guilt because she wanted it more than him. In fact, she had been the one to put the offer out there.

He knew how to have sex, he had watched porn. But he had never seen a vagina in real life before. Bug loved to masturbate, although he didn't know that's what it was called, but he thought knowing everything he could about sex would be better before he lost his virginity.

It seemed as if the walk had been only a minute or two because, before he knew it, Bug was crossing the lawn, entering the property where he and Penny resided.

At first, he thought his homed looked the way it always did. But then Bug saw that his front door was wide open. Not closed. Definitely not locked. Just simply wide open. Like someone had broken in . . .

The thought of an intruder being in his house freaked the hell out of Bug. What would he do? He would surely have to run the intruder of, but how?

Bug suddenly remembered that he had a camouflage power. He could make himself invisible. Yes. That would do. He would make himself invisible, tiptoe into the house, maybe grab a weapon, then hit the intruder with that weapon, scared him off.

So, very shakily, Bug crossed his lawn, using his power to make himself invisible. He tiptoed past the door, down the corridor hallway, to his room, grabbing a baseball bat. He knew where the intruder would be at: in Penny's room. The intruder had to be there because Bug had seen no other sign of anybody else.

Now here it was. The moment that Bug would have to fight an intruder. Bug usually stayed out of fights in the FAYZ, but there was no avoiding this one. Somebody had come inside his house and was probably messing with Penny, maybe Lana and Sanjit, if they were still here.

He stopped, breathing in and out deeply, readying himself for whatever happened next. And then he heard her voice. The familiar female voice that he had grown to know very well. Penny. "Why are you here?"

_Oh, no_, Bug thought. _What if he's about to hurt her? Whoever came in here is going to hurt Penny!_

Bug started moving his feet again, tiptoeing slowly and quietly. When he exited his room, he heard a familiar and masculine voice say, "I am going to give you the best offer you'll ever get in your life. Come with me, Penny. Help me take over the FAYZ. We'll take down Caine Soren, the King Of Perdido Beach. After that, I'll be the king. You'll be my queen. How 'bout it?"

Bug froze. He was dreading Penny's answer. She didn't answer yet, she was quiet for a long moment. But Bug knew that she would answer any second.

And who's voice was that? Who was asking Penny to come with him? The voice was familiar, but it had been so long since he'd heard it . . . Who would've wanted to take over the FAYZ? Who wanted to kill Caine Soren? Who, who, who?

Drake.

Drake Merwin.

He hadn't believe he hadn't thought of it. Bug's heart rate took on a quicker pace, so he started moving his legs again, baseball bat in hand. He didn't want Drake Merwin in his house and he didn't want Drake Merwin anywhere next to Penny.

But he had forgotten just for a moment, when the panic took over, how dangerous Drake Merwin was. How evil he was. But that didn't matter to Bug. The fact that he might steal Penny from him made him realize at that moment how he felt about Penny. As wicked and evil as she might be, he loved her.

Slowly, quietly, and unnoticeably, Bug walked right through the shut door of Penny's bedroom: that was another cool feature Bug had explored about his power: he could walk through solid objects.

He surveyed the scene in awe. Lana and Sanjit were at one corner, cuddled up, Lana crying, Sanjit squeezing her tight. Drake and Penny were looking directly at each other. Drake was wearing his shark grin, Penny was just expressionless. But then she mirrored his vile smile and said, "Deal. I'll help you. But Caine doesn't die. Leave Lana alone, she healed my legs. Sanjit, I don't care what you do to him. That little, stupid motherfucker cost me my legs. But don't kill him, I don't want to make Lana sad." Penny walked towards the door, then turned to look back at Lana. "Thanks, Lana."

Bug watched in terror as Drake strolled over to Sanjit, moving his whip arm slowly. "You're in for one hell of a whipping."

* * *

><p>This was the moment Bug had to do it. Now. He had to fight Drake Merwin with a baseball bat. The problem was that a baseball bat compared to his whip arm wasn't much. But if there was anything Bug knew about fighting it was that people could get knocked out if you hit them in the head hard enough.<p>

Lana let out a scream, then jumped in front of Sanjit as Drake raised his whip. The whip came down with surprising force and speed, Sanjit pushing Lana out of the way. The tentacle arm cut Sanjit's shoulder like a knife. The bleeding gash looked deep and that made Bug react as fast as possible.

Penny wasn't sure at the moment that letting Drake attack Sanjit was the right thing, so she screamed, "Stop!" but that was useless: Drake only smiled wider and lashed his whip again.

Sanjit screamed out in terror and pain as the whip left a fresh cut on his chest. Blood gushed out and ran down his body, a stream of crimson.

Bug snapped out of his amazement at the fact that Penny was standing—actually _standing_, her legs fixed—and jumped forward, bringing the baseball bat down on Drake's head.

Drake fell to his knees, and Sanjit took advantage of his fall at the exact moment that Bug revealed himself, no longer using his invisible power. Sanjit connected his right fist hard with Drake's jaw, and Drake fell back, but got to his feet seconds later.

"_DIE_!" Bug screamed, swinging the baseball bat side-ways, connecting it to Drake's side. Drake staggered, but caught his balance by firmly gripping onto the edge of the bed.

At the same time, Bug and Sanjit leaped forward. Sanjit speared Drake—the average sized Sanjit, who had two deep gashes, blood soaking his sweatshirt, actually _took down _the lean Drake Merwin. Bug couldn't believe Sanjit was that powerful, but at the same time, didn't want to waste any amount of time; he brought the baseball bat down again and again and again and _again _on Drake's face and blood started to run all over Drake's face.

It took a while before Bug stopped, when he finally noticed that he was gritting his teeth and smashing the bat into Drake's face. It felt so good, so _right_. He finally was able to let out all of the anger he had felt, all of the great frustration on someone who deserved it. Penny had touched Bug's shoulder and said, "Stop it, Bug. Quit."

Bug glanced over at the other side of the room, where Lana was trying to heal Sanjit, tears running down her face, saying, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, Sanjit."

He threw the baseball bat onto the bed, then faced Penny for her answer. "Because, Bug, he's down. He's out. And we both know there's no way to kill Drake Merwin. It won't be long before he's up and about anyway."

"Why, Penny?" Bug questioned, starting into her eyes. "Why would you agree to join Drake?"

"I want power," she answered. "I want people to _know _not to mess with me." Bug didn't respond, only starting into her eyes, so she continued. "Look, Bug, I know you have feelings for me. By the way you act towards me . . . But this is what I want to do; run the FAYZ. I'm not really as evil as Drake Merwin. He's just someone that is going to help me along the way. Trust me, Bug, I will never hurt you because I . . . I . . ." She was at a loss of words.

"You what?" Bug inquired, to no avail. "What, Penny?"

Penny blinked and a wet substance rolled down her face. "Bug, I love you. And I know you love me. I mean, I love you for taking care of me, and I love you for never giving up on me as mean as I was to you. But . . . Love just isn't my thing, you know? I'm gonna take Drake and I'm going to leave. That's it." She began to walk over to Drake, dragging his body outside of the room. "We lived together for a long time, and developed a relationship, I guess you could call it. But, let's face it; it's the FAYZ. There has to be a heartbreak some point in our story. I hope to work it out sometime in the future . . . But not now . . . Goodbye, Bug."

Penny had already dragged Drake's body out into the hall, and had shut the door, separating herself from the room of which Bug, Lana, and Sanjit were inside.

Bug couldn't believe it . . . It all felt too surreal . . . He didn't know all of the feelings would come out. It felt like it was the end of the road for him . . . The last chapter of the book. What had he done wrong? He had cared for her, been sarcastic with her when she wanted . . . When she was vulnerable. And now that she could walk again, it seemed like she didn't care for him anymore.

"Bug? You okay?" Sanjit's voice. Bug looked up and saw Lana and Sanjit standing in front of him. "Lana healed me and it feels weird . . . I feel as good as new. It's crazy, eh?"

"Yeah," Bug mumbled, standing up. "So what now? Drake's planning to take over the FAYZ. Penny's on his side. I bet Drake's already recruited other people, you know, to help him. What do we do? Report it to Sam?"

"Either him or Caine," Sanjit said. "I knew it lasted to long . . . You know, the peace in the FAYZ."

Lana sighed. "Oh, well. I guess this is the part where we start plotting on how to beat the bad guys."

**Author's Note: Wow! So, I know I haven't updated in a really long time, and I apologize. My laptop broke and I had to get it repaired and then I had problems with my password after it was repaired. But I'm back! And I'm writing more than ever. Hope you enjoyed this chapter and story so far, please do review!**

FEAR


	14. FOURTEEN

**FOURTEEN|**

55 Hours, 31 Minutes

**SAM TEMPLE **WAS on his back porch, sitting in a rocking chair, thinking about the FAYZ. It had been almost nine months since anything really bad had happened in the FAYZ. It was nine months ago when Diana had found out she was pregnant. Nine months ago when Drake had fought Orc and Jack. Nine months since Dekka had almost died.

"What are you thinking about?"

Sam turned and looked to see Astrid coming out of the house, opening the glass sliding door. "Everything. I'm thinking about everything. My life, mostly. What a hell hole this is."

"I agree," Astrid said, coming over to wrap her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly. "But think on the positive side."

"What positive side is there, Astrid?"

"Well, I mean, we're doing a lot better on food supply. Our Council system has been working fine. Everything had settled down ever since, you know, Drake Merwin last came to town."

"He's back," Sam whispered. "Orsay had that dream about him . . . I can feel it. He's here. His presence. I don't like it, Astrid. Something bad is going to happen soon."

"Come on, Sam, we both know Orsay was the outcast. I think her predictions and visions are wrong. I don't think it's possible to see into the future."

"What isn't possible?" Sam demanded. "Everything's possible in the FAYZ. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to shoot fire balls from my hands. Caine wouldn't be able to suspend gravity."

"But, if anything _did _happen, what's the worst that could go down? Caine is settling in with you, he's a good guy now. You and Caine, two four bars, together, could beat Drake any day. It's happened before, hasn't it? You and Caine beat Drake before."

"I know that, Astrid, but that was just pure luck. I'm sure everybody knows that Drake is my worst nightmare. And what am I supposed to do if he does come over here to Lake Tramonto? Be the hero again and save the day? It doesn't work like that sometimes. And, just saying, but we don't know for sure if Caine is on the good side yet. You have to think: he's done some pretty twisted things. I know somewhere inside, he's still mean and evil. He's my brother and all, but I just don't know."

Astrid hugged Sam tighter. "Well, all we can do at this point is prepare for what might happen. Be alert." She paused when he didn't answer. "I wish I could help in some way . . . But I can't. I'm useless. I have no powers, don't you see?"

Sam was taken aback. "Astrid, don't say that about yourself. You're not useless. You're the love of my life. The only thing that keeps me sane in the FAYZ."

"Same goes for me," Astrid agreed. "I mean, something bad is always happening to me in the FAYZ. Nobody liked me because of what I said about Mary. And then the Human Crew trying to kill me. And Drake trying to take Little Pete." She turned to face him. "Don't you see, you're the glue that holds me together."

Sam leaned forward, his forehead touching hers. His lips moved towards hers, and then he planted a kiss oh her lips. Her tongue pushed out of her mouth and entered his. They explored for a moment. Astrid had never kissed Sam like this for so long. But here they were, leaning over each others chairs, kissing.

It was getting hot. Really hot. So Astrid pulled away, as did Sam. "Thank you, Astrid, for thinking of me that way."

"Well, that's what you are: my glue."

"But, I mean, I've been such a jerk. Leaving you because you wouldn't have sex with me. Being mad over stupid stuff. I mean, there's always something that comes between us. And most of the time I'm wondering if you do love me after what I've put you through."

Astrid brushed her right index finger across his soft cheek. "Of course I love you. It's okay, we've already had the talk about sex, right? You know that I don't want that as much as you do. I don't wanna have sex until marriage. That's just me. It's who I am."

"But I've been dumb about things other than sex. And I'm sorry about that. I promise to do my best to keep us together. You're my everything."

"So are you," Astrid whispered. "And, Sam, I've already told you a _million _times that I forgive you. I don't blame you one bit. We're in the FAYZ. Things are bad here. Really bad here. The only good part of all of this is that we are all able to eat. That we're not starving anymore, like how it was at the beginning of the FAYZ. Now that was bad. This isn't anywhere near that."

It was silent for a moment as Sam looked up in the sky at the fake stars. It was probably just another vision trick of the dome. The barrier.

"Do you think something's gonna happen anytime soon, Astrid?" Sam asked. "It's been about nine months since we've ran into disaster. How long do you think it's gonna be before something else happens? Something that is probably gonna be really bad?"

Usually, Astrid had quick answers. But not this time. This time, she slowly turned to Sam and stared for a second. "I feel it, Sam. You do, too. We both know there's something that's not right."

"That's why I asked you," Sam said. "Because I can feel that something is coming. I have that feeling in my stomach."

Astrid sighed. "Well, I'll be here for you. Through thick and thin. I love you, Sam. Forever. And I won't let anything ruin that."

"Me neither, babe," Sam said. "And I love you, too. More than you think."

She leaned against his chest, listening to his heart, and thinking about just what was coming next in the FAYZ.

* * *

><p>Something was very wrong with Caine. Diana could tell. He seemed almost regretful. Like he wished he could take something back. But what? Diana didn't like it. And it was starting to worry her. So, she really wanted to get home to see what the hell was going on with him.<p>

First, they had to go to Sam and Astrid's home. They very generously offered to watch Cassandra while Caine took care of his political business and Diana slept; she was _exhausted_. Although most mothers wanted to be with their daughters for many days after they were born, this was different. Diana loved Cassandra already, but needed some alone time. Caine wasn't much help when it came to the baby. He didn't even know how to hold her right. So it was Diana who had to take care of Cassandra every second. Diana needed to get some sleep, so she asked Sam and Astrid to take care off Cassandra. They gladly said yes. Which meant Diana got at least some sleep. And that long sleep made a huge difference; as soon as she awoke, she felt like Super Mom, ready to take care of Cassandra for all hours of the night. So Diana got ready, headed for Perdido Beach to pick up Caine, and from there, they both walked to Sam and Astrid's house to pick up Cassandra. On the way there, Caine was silent. Very silent. And Diana sensed that there was something wrong with him.

She got the vibe that he regretted something. And that was never good. So the entire walk was almost silent. She had her hands in her pockets as she walked, wondering just what the hell was wrong.

"This is their house, isn't it?" Diana asked when they came to an outwardly fashionable decorated home. It was the biggest house she had seen in the FAYZ. Or at least close to it.

"Yes," Caine said. "This is my brothers house." He past her, walking onto the steps, and she began to follow. He rang the doorbell to the right of the door and waited for an answer.

Instead of waiting, Caine tried for the knob. It easily opened and he and Diana entered. Already he saw Sam and Astrid making their way to the door. Diana rushed to the couch in the living room where Cassandra was lying. Caine was behind her, Sam and Astrid coming, too. They all sat down on the couches. Caine and Diana sat on the opposite couch of Astrid and Sam, facing each other.

"So, how was my baby?" Diana asked, already picking her up and rocking her back and forth.

"She was good," Sam said.

"She was amazing," Astrid added. "She only cried once and it was because she needed a pamper change. And I did feed her twice since she's been with us."

"Good," Diana said. "Well, thanks, Sam and Astrid. I really needed to get some sleep and let Lana's healing process kick in. But I feel a lot better now. Got lots of rest. I should be ready to deal with her all day tomorrow."

Astrid laughed. "Yeah, any time. I mean, she is kind of like family because Sam and Caine are brothers and we are their girlfriends . . . So , yeah . . ." Astrid stopped when she saw that it had became awkward.

So, instead of saying anything else that would make Diana and Caine feel uncomfortable, Astrid went to the bassinet Diana had brought Cassandra in, and picked the newborn up, handing her over to Diana.

"Do you want to keep the bassinet here?" Sam asked. "You know, 'cause we'll probably watch her in the future. That way, it won't be so much trouble carrying a bunch of stuff back home. Your house is about a mile away from mines, right?"

"Something like that," Diana agreed. "And, thanks. If I ever really need someone to watch Cassandra, I'll come to you guys. Thanks, it means a lot."

"Diana, we need to go," Caine finally said. He hadn't spoke in a long while. Astrid, Sam, and Diana were very suspicious of why he was so silent. "I need to talk with you alone at the house."

"Um, can you take Cassandra outside and wait for me? I need to do something," Diana announced to him.

Caine stood, took Cassandra from Diana gently and went to sit on the porch with Cassandra in his arms. At least the weather felt amazing.

Diana closed the door so that Caine wouldn't hear their conversation. "Astrid, Sam, thanks the most for being able to forgive us. I mean, we did some _really _fucked up things to you two. Not only to the both of you, but everyone. I can't stress how sorry I am, I really can't, I just feel so bad."

"It's fine," Sam said.

"Yeah," Astrid pitched in.

"No, it's not. I'm looked at as evil. For example, when Sam blasted Drake Merwin's arm when the FAYZ started, Caine was looking for someone to cut Drake's arm off and everyone was scared, but, not me, I enjoyed it a little. Like, how could someone be that evil? I don't know . . . I think I've completely changed for Cassandra. I've only known her for a day or so and I already love her." Diana turned, and, on the way out, told them, "Goodbye."

"Bye," Sam and Astrid called simultaneously.

Diana shut the door slowly and quietly, then stepped onto the porch, immediately noticing the nice weather, and seeing Caine staring at Cassandra while holding her. His look wasn't like he was adoring her, but it wasn't like he didn't like her either. He was just starting blankly. What the hell was wrong with him right now?

"Um, Caine?"

"Your ready? Good," Caine answered for her.

He stood up and started walking to the left of the yard, towards their house. The walk felt like forever to Diana because she wanted to speak, but didn't, afraid of what might happen if she did.

Finally, they approached the two-bedroom cabin Diana, Cassandra, and now Caine were staying in. This cabin had both good and bad memories. Bad from the long months that she had been alone, no boyfriend, no friends, no anything. Good memories because her baby, Cassandra, was born here. That's what mattered most.

Caine had held the door open for Diana, who was carrying Cassandra, when they entered the cabin. Diana gave Cassandra back to Caine again while she went to go make Cassandra another bottle in case she was hungry. Lake Tramonto and Perdido Beach had plenty of baby formula to give, since there was no other newborns in the FAYZ. When all the adults disappeared, the youngest child in the FAYZ was at least one year old. Since it had been a year and five months since the FAYZ started, seventeen months, that kid was now about to be three. And that meant there was no need of baby formula, so everyone gave all the baby formula they could scrounge up to Diana. She thought that was very kind of them since she had been very mean to everyone in the past. But she was a better person now. At least there was that.

Diana sealed the top to the bottle and made her way to the bed where Caine was holding Cassandra.

After Diana put a pillow behind the baby and put a blanket under the bottle so it could hold itself up, the baby was in a position where she could be fed without Diana having to hold the bottle.

"So, now that the baby is having her meal, we have about an hour or so to talk. So, tell me, Caine, what the hell is going on?"

"I need a break," Caine replied. "Diana, I need time away. From everyone. Time to be alone and think about this all. It's too much for me."

Diana's facial expression changed to a mixed emotion of sadness and outrage. "It's too much for _you_? Caine, I'm the one that squeezed a baby that weighs almost eight pounds out of my fucking vagina, and it's too much for _you_? I'm a mother and I'm only about to be sixteen! Are you _leaving _me?"

"No," Caine told her. "I'm not leaving you. Diana, I _love _you. But, you and I both know that I have evil tendencies. I just have to get away to know what to do. I really do want you because I love you. I just have to find a way to make sure I don't do anything I regret. I love power, Diana, I love being in charge, and I just can't give being in charge of Perdido Beach up. I just need time to debate on which I want more."

"So, you love power as much as you do _me_?" Diana demanded. "That's really fucked up!"

"No, no, no, not at all," Caine said. "But I need to think of a way to meet you and power halfway. I'm not breaking up with you, Diana, I just have to figure this out. Just give me some time. It won't take that long for me to think this over. I just need a little time."

"Caine, I gave you _everything_! I gave you my heart, my _soul_, and all I asked is that you be good with me! I even let you take my virginity!"

"It was my first time, too," Caine argued.

"I know _that_, but there was a huge difference; I wanted us to not have sex for a little longer and you wanted it now. You _promised _me you'd be good if I gave myself to you!"

"What do you think I'm trying to do?" Caine demanded.

"You can't leave me, Caine . . . I can't be in that place ever again."

"I'm sorry," Caine apologized. "I hope you understand." He leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead. It was very unusual, but it _did _happen because Diana saw it; as Caine's lip curled, _tears _rolled down his cheek. Not just one tear like she'd seen once before, but_ multiple _tears. He squeezed his arms around her tight, tears dripping from his face onto her shirt, and said, "I love you."

Diana couldn't help but shrivel up, hugging her knees tightly tears _pouring _down her face, backing into the corner of the bed, against the wall, face buried into her arms. She didn't even hear Caine tell Cassandra goodbye and walk out of the door. All she could do was violently cry, tears coming down like a waterfall.

She felt like screaming, like hitting something hard, but the only thing that kept her from doing that was the fact that it was going to scare Cassandra. Her heart felt like it had just been ripped apart like it was a lions food. She was, for the second time, heartbroken by Caine.

_This wasn't supposed to fucking happen! _she screamed inwardly. _I chose to be good and all of these horrible things start happening to me! I get pregnant, Caine leaves me, what else could go wrong? When I turned fifteen, I should have taken the fucking poof! That way, I wouldn't have to be here, going through this_!

"You're all I have," Diana whispered as she looked at Cassandra who had just fallen asleep a second ago. Now that she was asleep, Diana let herself sob even louder, although even wasn't very loud.

"What am I gonna do?" Diana whispered. "What am I gonna do?"

FEAR


	15. FIFTEEN

**FIFTEEN|**

54 Hours, 49 Minutes

**PENNY AND** DRAKE had left Bug's house and Penny had just finished describing to Drake how to get to Lake Tramonto from Perdido Beach.

"I don't know why Bug chose to live in Perdido Beach still," Drake muttered. "If everyone moved to that Lake Tramonto place, he should've went. Perdido Beach looks like a fucking ghost town. There's hardly anyone there."

"Yeah, because Caine basically took Perdido Beach as his and Sam decided to start building a little city at Lake Tramonto."

"Fucking genius," Drake commented. "What a fucking dumb ass punk. Little hero Sam wants to build a new place to live. I swear that nigga is a fucking retard."

"Well, because they went on a search for food and they found a bunch of food and decided that, instead of having to carry it all the way back to Perdido Beach, they would just start living there."

"So, because Sammy Boy was lazy, everyone had to move to Lake Tramonto and build houses?"

"Cabins were already there for the people who didn't wanna build themselves a house."

"Arrogant bastard," Drake uttered. "If he would've stayed in Perdido Beach, I could be there right now, terrorizing everyone. But, _no_, I have to wait. And, so, what happened to the people that wanted to stay with Caine? He just let them starve and Caine had to find a way to get food?"

"No," Penny replied. "Sam has Howard and Orc bring Caine the food he needs. Which is only a little food, since only me, Bug, and about twenty other people live there still. At first, about half of the FAYZ population stayed with Caine and the other half stayed with Sam, but then mostly everyone moved with Sam. I would've, too, but I couldn't because Bug's dumb ass was procrastinating and I didn't get my legs fixed until right before you arrived."

"That's why the Healer and that little brown nigga was there," Drake guessed. "What is that little nigga's name anyway?"

"Lana's boyfriend? Oh, that's Sanjit," Penny answered.

"I think I've ran into him before," Drake said. "I'm not sure when, though. Maybe I didn't."

"Okay," Penny said. "So, what part am I taking in this? Like, I'm gonna become the queen, you told me that, but how do you know we're gonna take over the FAYZ. Like, what do we have to do?"

"My leader, my Lord, the Gaiaphage, the _Darkness _told me to bring him Diana's baby. That's all we gotta do. After we do that, we can come back, terrorize everybody, to the point where they will bow down to us. Then, we'll make them treat us like king and queen."

"Wait," Penny said. "What's the Darkness? And why do we have to bring Diana and Caine's baby to it?"

"Because the Darkness told me that their baby is a five bar," Drake responded.

"Is that even possible? I thought the highest was a four bar? And only Sam and Caine were four bars."

"Well, Astrid the mother fucking Genius had a little brother named Pete. He was fucking autistic and was a five bar. It was fucking stupid that an autistic kid had more power than anybody else." Drake shook his head.

"So, if a person was a five bar, wouldn't that mean they could stop the FAYZ?" Penny asked.

"Exactly," Drake responded. "That's why the Darkness wants the baby. It could take down the FAYZ."

"So, you still haven't answered my question; what's the Darkness?"

"It's . . ." Drake paused. "I can't explain it. But it's like a spirit made out of diamonds . . . It lives at the bottom of a mine shaft. But, just so you know, when you meet it, you will probably be fucking scared."

"What the fuck ever," Penny disagreed.

"That's what you say now," Drake laughed. "But, wait till you see it . . . Or feel it in you and your mind, I should say. Even I was scared of it a little."

"Because you're a pussy, Drake," Penny muttered.

"Shut the fuck up you stupid bitch," Drake ordered, coming to a halt, spinning on his heels, and raising his palm as if he was going to slap her. "Don't talk to me like that again, hoe, or I will beat the shit out of you, all right?"

Penny shut up immediately, surprised by his vicious language, behavior, and anger.

They both started walking again, and after a couple of minutes, Drake inquired, "Do you know where Diana lives or what?"

"Uh, no," Penny answered. "But I can get someone to tell me. How about you hide because if they see you, they won't tell me. I want the process of getting the fucking baby to that Darkness or whatever the fuck it is to be fast, so I can be crowned queen."

"Good thinking," Drake commented. "And it will be quick, trust me. Well, at least getting the baby to the Darkness. The fun part will be coming back and killing Caine and Sam and becoming king."

Drake stared to laugh and all of a sudden stopped. He muttered, "Oh, shit." He wondered when Brittney was going to emerge. So he spoke as fast as he could to Penny. "I forgot to tell you that Brittney emerges sometimes and it's weird because it'll happy every now and then. It's kind of like there's two people inside our body."

Penny was going to ask him what he was talking about, but didn't when she saw his form changing. The tentacle went away and was replaced by scrawnier, feminine arms and hands, and then legs, and then chest and the whole body looked different. Penny could only stare as Drake's dark hair went away and was replaced by a brunette's hair. Then his face changed and an entire new female was standing there.

"Oh, fuck," Penny nearly shouted. "Am I using my own fucking power on myself? What the _fuck _is going on?" The girl even had on a white gown and everything. It was like Drake had never even been there.

The female looked just as confused. "Who are you?"

"I'm Penny, who the fuck are you?"

"Brittney Donegal."

"What happened to Drake?" Penny demanded.

Despite everything that was happening and the confusion, Brittney smiled. "Uh, it's kind of difficult to say. Drake and I are like two souls in the same body."

"That's . . . insane . . ." Penny whispered.

"Yeah. Every now and then one of us will become the other. Any second, I could turn into Drake. Any second, he could turn into me." Penny didn't say anything, so then Brittney continued. "So what does Drake have planned?"

"Uh, he and I were supposed to go take Diana's baby and give it to the . . . Blackness?"

"Darkness, you mean," Brittney corrected. "Well, I hope I can do this."

"You got me to help," Penny added. "But, anyway, you don't look like you would fight Diana and take her baby away from her. You look . . . Good . . . And nice."

"I am nice," Brittney told her. "But I have to honor the Lord. The Lord always comes first. He's never wrong."

"The Lord . . . ?" Penny questioned. "What do you mean by that, Brittney?"

"God . . . Drake calls him the Darkness. I don't know why, but he does."

"You think the Darkness is God?"

"No, I _know _he is . . . And quit calling him the Darkness. You either refer to him as Lord or God."

On a normal occasion, she would have slapped this chick for having an attitude with her, but she didn't slap her because she was amazed that Brittney thought this thing was the Lord . . . But what if it was? Then, Penny would be afraid . . . She'd been a bad girl.

"Okay, so where are we going?" Brittney queried after a minute or so.

"Um, Diana lives in Lake Tramonto, but I don't know where. I'm thinking I can get someone to tell me. Try to charm someone, get them to tell me where she lives. If not, then threaten them. I don't know. But we'll find her. Let's start looking first, so we don't blow our cover. If we can't find it, then we'll start asking people."

Brittney didn't have a response to that. They both just stared straight forward and kept walking. Penny supposed this chick was okay, but Brittney was weird as _fuck_. She claimed that this Darkness person or thing was God. If that was the case, Penny would be scared of going to hell or being punished. But, at the same time, she knew that the Darkness was, in fact, _not _God. The Lord God was good and represented good. Why would Drake worship someone that represented good?

This was all confusing. Penny stopped thinking about all of the confusing things that were going through her mind and started thinking about the fact that her legs were functional again. She could _walk_ again.

"There's the Lake Tramonto sign," Brittney said, her hand pointing at a green, rusted sign, that, in large, white letters, read, "Welcome to Lake Tramonto."

Penny said, "Well, people around here stay in cabins I think. At least that's what Bug told me. So, I guess, we'll try to peek into peoples windows. I don't know." She paused. "But, are you sure you want to do this? We can wait till Drake comes back. He's a lot more . . . Powerful. And he'd know how to go about this better."

"No," Brittney resisted. "I need to serve the Lord. If I let Drake handle this, I will be looked at as less faithful."

It was silent for a moment as they started into Lake Tramonto. Penny broke the silence. "Diana's baby. We're taking it to the Darkness . . . Do you think it will hurt this baby? Like, kill it or something?"

"I don't think so," Brittney responded. "But, if the Lord takes the life of Diana's baby, it will be something positive. God never does anything bad. Never."

Penny was starting to get the chills. Penny was mean, really mean sometimes, but she would never wish death upon a baby . . . It was sickening. "How could taking the life of a baby in any way be a positive thing?" she quickly demanded.

"Well, he could be saving it from having a terrible life in the FAYZ," Brittney replied solemnly. "Anyway, why are you questioning the Lord? You're never supposed to question the Lord."

"Excuse me," Penny mumbled.

The two girls were walking and saw, not too far away, a few cabins. _So this is where all the cabins are_, Penny thought. _I thought they were much further. Guess not. Oh, well, good for me._

They began to peek in the few cabins they began to pass, but Penny stood in awe when she saw in, not far distance, a handsome boy with fine hair, step out of a cabin, and start to walk, a few tears escaping his eyes. On any day, Penny would have been able to identify him. It was Caine Soren, her former crush. She had been crushing on him _big time_. Even now, she felt it. Something a little like love.

For a moment, she was tempted to walk up to him and run her fingers across his face, to cling to him tightly, to hug him, to kiss him, and tell him how she felt about him. She wanted that, and it was funny that she could like him so much when he didn't return the favor. But, it didn't matter. She had a job.

"What is it?" Brittney inquired, but then also froze when she saw Caine. However, he did not see them since he was too far away to notice them. Anyway, whatever made him shed tears obviously upset him a lot. And, if there was something that made Caine Soren _cry_, it had to be serious. Distracting. He didn't have time to look at the surroundings. Caine had his hands on his face, covering his eyes, so chances were he wouldn't see Brittney and Penny.

"Hide behind that cabin, now, hurry," Penny rushed, pointing at the closest cabin. "Hurry, before he sees us." They both hurriedly hid on the side of the cabin, staring at Caine as he walked in the somewhat far distance.

Brittney was silent for a second, but then queried, "Why does seeing Caine work you up so much? Like, are you scared of him or something?" When Penny glared at her, she added, "Just asking."

"No," Penny responded. "It's . . . complicated." She paused, continuing to stare at Caine as he passed, gaining further distance from them. "I guess you could kind of say I'm in love with him. He has all the qualities I look for in a boy. He's dangerous, bad, yet charming and charismatic. He's perfect."

"Perfect?" Brittney questioned. "I don't know about that. Caine wants power and domination over others in the FAYZ, while a _long _time ago, everybody should have been worrying about bigger issues, like how make sure everyone is fed."

"Whatever," Penny muttered. "We need to get that baby to the, uh, Darkness, so let's go. Forget about Caine. He doesn't see us anyway." She paused, thinking. "Wait," she added, putting up her left arm so Brittney wouldn't start walking. "Caine and Diana have a baby, right? He loves her to death. She's probably the only person he loves. Which means she's the only person that could make him cry. If he stormed off from that cabin like that, that probably means that's the cabin Diana lives in. _She _made him cry."

"Then, let's go," Brittney said.

Penny and Brittney started moving again, Brittney taking the lead, Penny forcing herself not to look back at Caine. They would be there in less than five minutes. Five minutes until Penny would take away Diana and Caine's baby. _He'll hate me forever, _Penny thought. Her legs felt like they were going numb, like they had been for so long now.

"That's the cabin, right?" Brittney pointed to the cabin Caine had stormed out of, snapping Penny out of her long episode of thinking.

"Yeah."

Brittney heard the shake in Penny's voice. "Are you ready, Penny?"

"Uh, yeah."

Both girls walked forward, slowly and quietly stepping onto the small set of stairs carved out of wood, leading to the porch.

The porch was roomy yet empty, containing nothing but an old rocking chair and a long, wooden bench. Penny reached for the screen door, opening it as quietly as possible, signaling for Brittney to go first, then following Brittney's lead.

They immediately entered a bedroom. That by itself told Penny that the cabin had a strange layout. In the bedroom was a crib against the east wall and a queen bed against the north wall. Laying on the queen was a sobbing and beautiful girl. Her sobs were quiet, her eyes squinted as if she had ran out of tears. A fresh tear dripped from each eye, rolling down her cheek.

_What could've happened to make both Diana and Caine cry like this? _Penny thought.

Brittney looked at Penny, placing two fingers on her lips, as if saying to keep quiet. Brittney reached into the crib and carefully put her hands under the baby. Brittney started to lift her up, when she and Penny saw, at the same time, Diana open her eyes, start to get to her feet, and scream, "My baby!"

Something hit Brittney. Something hard. Something that went through her entire body. Something spiritual. Something she had never felt before. Yet, at the same time, she knew what it was. _Who _it was. Darkness. It was the Darkness. Lord. God.

_Brittney, my faithful angel, _the Darkness said in her mind. _Bring me the baby. But make sure the baby is not hurt in any way. Be very careful_.

"Brittney!" Penny shouted. "Why are you just _standing _there?"

The spiritual energy went away and Brittney snapped back to reality. "Sorry, I was getting a message from the Lord. He was telling me to—"

"Watch out!" Penny warned loudly.

Brittney turned back quickly, but wasn't fast enough because Diana had already tackled her. "You stupid _bitch_! Why the fuck are trying to take my baby?"

_Shit_, Penny thought. _Guess I gotta get the baby. But, wait, what if I get the baby? Do I leave Brittney here? Fuck it._

Penny started for the crib, determined and scared. It was a sick thing taking away a baby from its mother for no reason. Even if Penny didn't like Diana, this was the most heartless thing she had ever done.

Diana was on top of Brittney, slapping and punching the shit out of her. Blood began to run down Brittney's face, a busted nose the result of so many punches from Diana.

Penny was starting to reach for the baby when she saw Diana jump up and run for her just like she did Brittney.

_I'll be damned if I'm gonna let her bum-rush me, _Penny thought.

Using her power, little bugs with small, sharp nails had suddenly appeared all around them. Brittney started to scream because Penny had forgotten to inform her of her power. Diana screamed as well, but did no back down.

The small insects started leaping towards Diana, a hallucination that looked all too real. The small knife-like nails on their hands came out and the bugs tried to cut Diana.

Diana jumped up and down and started stomping on the bugs, killing them. On a normal occasion, she would use her power to the fullest extent. But she was in awe. When Penny had first started using her power, the monster-like images were just hallucinations. Now, the bugs were dying. That meant that Penny had learned to give her hallucinations life. And they weren't just hallucinations anymore. She was now a _real _Monster Bringer.

Although she was feeling triumph and power, she was still sort of scared. She really didn't want to take this baby away from Diana, but if that's what was needed to become Queen of the FAYZ, she would do it.

Again, she reached for the baby, but was amazed when Diana got passed the bugs, rushing at her with incredible force. Diana hit her from the side, and Penny went _flying_. She hit the wall and suddenly Penny couldn't see. It was all black, everything was black. But she could hear. She could hear everything that was happening.

Brittney wasn't going to let Diana win this. How the hell could Brittney manage to knock both of them down? She wiped the blood from her nose, then began to shakily stand. Brittney was never much of a fighter, but she had to serve the Lord.

"Why do you want my baby, you psycho bitch?" Diana screamed. "Brittney, you're a good person, what the fuck are you _doing_?"

"Diana, I need her," Brittney explained. "The Darkness, the Lord, _God_, needs her. He told me. He needs her to make things better."

"The Darkness? What the fuck? The Darkness is the _opposite _of the Lord. The Darkness is playing mind games with you, Brittney! Wake up and realize it! If the Darkness was God, why is all of this happening to us?"

"Because all of you are sinners," Brittney answered. "You are all evil. And he must get rid of you. He'll keep me because he loves me. I'm an angel." She paused, taking a step forward. "Now. Give. Me. The. Fucking. Baby!" She dashed forward, knocking Diana flat on her back, and the two girls rolled on the floor, biting, scratching, clawing, punching, slapping.

_I have to get up_, Penny thought. _But I can't. Fuck!_

Brittney finally had the upper hand. She landed a hard right on Diana and Diana slammed onto the ground, now rubbing her head, making a hell of an effort to stay conscious.

"Give it up!" Brittney said. "God loves me, he made me immortal, I can't die. Don't you get it? Let me serve my Lord already!"

A wave of energy through her body, and the Darkness had entered her body again. _Good, Brittney. The gun. In the closet is a gun. Caine gave it to Diana for protection._

_What about the gun, my Lord?_ Brittney questioned.

The Darkness responded, _Take it and get rid of Diana. She is a sinner, she is evil. The Devil in a human body. Kill her immediately and return the baby to me safely_.

The spirit left and Brittney started searching for a closet right away. It took her only a second to find one. But she finally did. It was hidden in a box on the right corner.

"Well, Diana, I tried to tell you," Brittney said, checking the chamber. "Now you must die for the Lord."

She turned out of the closet and to where Diana had been laying. However, Diana was no longer there. "Crap," she muttered, then in a louder voice, "Where are you Diana?"

She felt two female arms close around her neck, the arms of Diana. Brittney tried to get out of the hold but Diana wouldn't let go. She was choking her.

"I'm not going to kill you, no matter what!" Diana said. "Just leave, please! I can't let you take my baby!" But, since not even that seemed to make Brittney stop, Diana decided she needed to beat the shit out of Brittney. Diana wouldn't shoot Brittney because that would be murder, but she would still beat her unconscious.

Brittney elbowed her, but then Diana quickly came back with a knee to the face. More blood gushed from Brittney's nose. Diana was winning. She grabbed the lamp next to her bed and smashed it on Brittney's face. Finally, Brittney fell to the floor.

Diana started to kick Brittney, kicking her violently, angry that she had tried taking Cassandra.

Suddenly, Brittney began to change. Diana thought she was seeing it with her imagination, but she was wrong. Brittney's chest went flat, her figure became lean, her hair shortened, and one of her arms was elongating.

_No_, Diana told herself. _Impossible. Not this, not HIM! PLEASE, not HIM! Please, Lord, don't let this happen to me! PLEASE!_

Diana started to back away, looking for the gun. There it was, on the floor, laying there. But, when she grabbed it and then turned around to point it at Drake, she saw that he had already stood.

"Diana," Drake breathed. "Long time, no see."

"Fuck you!" Diana shouted, aimed, and fired. She felt the gun go off in her hand and was glad to see it enter his chest. But he still stood. No. That was insane.

"You forgot," Drake reminded her, "that the Darkness made Brittney and I immortal. We can't die. _I _can't die" He smiled at her that sick smile.

_BAM! BAM! BAM!_

The rounds blasted, multiple bullets, the gun thrashing wildly in Diana's hands. She stopped when she had to reload.

_Shit!_

She couldn't remember where Caine had put the other bullets at. She stared at Drake, knowing this was it. He would kill her.

But, no matter what, she did not put the gun down. Maybe he wouldn't notice that the gun had clicked empty.

Drake raised the whip hand, and smashed it against the gun and the pistol went flying, hitting the wall.

Drake grinned at her, blood dripping from his mouth from the bullets. "Wanna see something cool?" He stared at her for a second and she saw all of his wounds go away and the blood suddenly stop coming out of his mouth.

Diana was creeped out. He just _healed _himself right in front of her. Without any magic, without doing anything, it all just went away.

She couldn't do anything. She had no defense. She raised her hands, put them in front of her face. She was shaking horribly now, _trembling_. "Drake, if you kill me, please don't hurt my baby. Please!"

He laughed. "Don't worry, I won't kill your baby. That's all up to the Darkness. Chances are, he'll just use her to his advantage."

All she wanted to do was break down and cry. Diana had her heart broken and on top of that, beat up two girls thinking she was actually going to win. Until Brittney morphed into Drake. Now she was going do die. She wanted so badly to stand there and fight for Cassandra, to fight for her baby's life. But she couldn't. All of a sudden, she was having a metal breakdown. Tears dropped from her eyes rapidly, almost like a waterfall. All she did was keep her hands in front of her face, crying, and repeating the word "Please."

Drake lashed his tentacle arm at her once, but cut both of her hands, sliced through her palms smoothly. She screamed, then fell down, curling into a ball, crying.

He stared at her for a long moment. "Look at you. You are weak, defenseless, nothing." He unbuckled his pants, but then decided against it. "No. I need to take this baby to the Darkness. After that, though, I'm coming back for you. And you're mine. You'll be dead, Diana."

Drake heard a sound and looked over his shoulder to see Penny getting up from unconsciousness. "Penny, grab the baby. Let's go."

"What happened while I was knocked out?"

"I'll tell you on the way."

Penny and Drake walked out of the cabin, both silent, Drake wearing that sick, twisted, smile, Penny holding the baby and thinking about all of this, trying to force the image of Diana's curled, tortured body, out of her head.

FEAR


	16. SIXTEEN

**SIXTEEN|**

51 Hours, 48 Minutes

**IT WAS **EIGHT twelve at night. Taylor was surprised that such time had passed. Her shift was with Brother John Terrafino from four in the evening to midnight for taking care of the prees at the Day Care. Two hours and forty-eight minutes until she could leave and Edilio and Sinder would take their shifts. She supposed the hard part of her shift was done; most of the prees were starting to get a little tired, the majority of them laying down, watching a movie, looking at a book, or playing with toys, while a few had already fallen asleep.

From the looks of it, John was really having a good time. "You look happier than I've ever seen you," Taylor commented with a smile.

"I am," John agreed, smiling back. His smile was genuine, a smile that hadn't been on his face for a while.

"May I ask why?"

"Isn't it obvious?" John inquired. "Because, now that Caine sent you, Edilio, Sinder, Howard, and Orc, I only have to work for eight hours. Today, when my shift was over at midnight, I went home, and slept until two in the afternoon. Fourteen hours. It was fantastic. With this new schedule, and now that I have workers, I only work for eight hours and get sixteen hours off. Most of that will be my sleep time, at least until I'm no longer exhausted."

"Wow, fourteen hours of sleep," Taylor mused. "That's a lot. I couldn't even sleep that long if I wanted to. I usually sleep eight hours or around there."

"Well, you gotta think," John explained, "I have taken care of the prees for ten months. All by myself. I usually hardly got any sleep at all. Sometimes, I would be so tired, I would almost pass out. I would have to take energy drinks to stay awake. I can't imagine what that did to my health."

"Me neither," Taylor said. "When Caine was looking for helpers and told me that you had worked ten months all by yourself, I knew I had to help you out. That's insane. Not only that, but you have to deal with the loss of Mary." She wanted to put her hand on her mouth because she didn't know if he was sensitive on the subject.

When John saw Taylor's look, he smiled faintly. "It's okay. I do miss her, but I understand that I must move on. And, wherever she is, she's in a better place. She's either in heaven or back in the real world."

"Those both sound _way _better than being in her," Taylor concurred. "This place is a hell hole." She paused, looking at the rowdy kids that were now cooperative due to exhaustion. "But, I mean, don't you ever think this is the real world, and everyone really _is _gone. That, the only way out is death."

"Either be in here or die," John said.

"Yeah, that's pretty much what I mean."

"Well, I don't know," John responded honestly. "I guess it depends. Sometimes, I think it _is _that way. Other times, I think we're just trapped and we'll get out some day and go back into the real world."

"Our luck," Taylor said, "that it happened to us. If this happened to adults, I'm sure they'd handle it much better. But, no, it happened to us kids. Adults are smart, know a lot about how to run a community, you know, that kind of stuff."

"Yeah," John agreed. "But, here we are, in the FAYZ, going through horrible times. But, there are bright sides to all of this. Computer Jack has the phones running, it almost seems like nothing bad is going to happen. It's been since Diana got pregnant that anything really bad has happened. We're doing a little better on food, for two main reasons."

"Which are?" Taylor queried.

"One, there are less people after the greenies attack, since some died here and there. Two, because we are learning how to grow fruits and vegetables."

"Yeah, even though they don't get along with our taste buds most of the times, at least we have food in our stomach," Taylor admitted. "It's better than starving like we had at the beginning of the FAYZ."

It was silent for a moment, but then, Taylor said, "Can you believe it? All the kids are starting to fall asleep."

* * *

><p>Brother and Emily had trouble finding Lake Tramonto. So when they <em>finally <em>found the sign that read "Welcome to Lake Tramonto," they were especially happy. They were sent by Drake to start trouble here in Lake Tramonto, but Brother didn't want that at all. He was sure his big sister didn't either.

"We're not going to do bad things here, are we, Emily?" Brother questioned after they entered Lake Tramonto, after they talked about how hard it been to find this place and how glad they were to be here.

"No, Brother, we're not," Emily assured. "We'll find Sam and we'll tell him about Drake and Nerezza's plans. They'll do something about it. Sam and all the good guys will kill Drake and Nerezza. If I have to, I'll help them."

"You're gonna fight them?" Brother asked worriedly.

"If anyone will help me, yes," Emily responded. "We used to stay out of all of this, but we can't do that anymore, Brother. We have to put a stop to this. I'm probably a two bar, so I could kind of help the good guys if I need to. But, not you, no matter what, you won't have to fight."

Changing the subject, Brother queried, "Are we going to find Sam right now?"

"Yes."

"How do we find out where he lives?"

"We'll run into someone that knows Sam. You know, just ask around," Emily answered. "I'm sure everybody knows where Sam lives."

They were both quiet until they started seeing a couple of people. Emily recognized two of them as Quinn Gaither and the other as Albert Hillsborough, who had gashes in their backs. Emily wouldn't doubt if Drake was the cause of those cuts.

"Albert!" Emily shouted. Both Quinn and Albert turned and stared at her, waiting there while she caught up to them. "Hey, Albert."

"Uh, do I know you?" Albert gave her a strange look, then his features softened and he added, "You look sort of familiar. Emily, I think."

"Yeah, it's me Emily," Emily said, gesturing towards her brother. "That's Brother. I have to talk to Sam. Like, right now. I thought you'd know where he lives."

"Of course I do," Albert said. "Quinn and I are going to Lana's house. Drake came to Ralph's and cut us up. It hurts. So we're gonna ask her to heal our wounds. Sam's house isn't far from there, so we'll go there afterwards. If not, then I can give you Sam and Astrid's cabin number and you can go look for it. Or, you can come with us and then we'll take you with to Sam's house."

"Uh, we'll go with you," Emily said. "We don't wanna get lost."

"Okay, then let's go," Quinn said, taking lead, walking at a fast pace. It was clear that his cut was hurting him a lot and he was trying to get to Lana as fast as possible.

Emily wanted to get to Sam desperately. She felt like any second, Drake was going to attack her with that whip hand of his. She kept looking all around to make sure he wasn't near. He had warned her earlier when they all split up, saying, "And don't try to run to Sam Temple or anybody and try to be saved. Do that and I will kill you." And, even though it was horrible to live in the FAYZ, death was worse, in her point of view.

"Is it far from here?" Brother inquired.

"Not really," Quinn answered. "Maybe five minutes."

There was silence for a moment, but Emily didn't enjoy it. She wanted to make conversation to keep herself from thinking about Drake. "So, uh, Quinn and Albert. What happened with Drake? Those look like some nasty cuts . . ."

"He came to Ralph's," Albert responded. "Me, Quinn, and a few other people that still live in Perdido Beach were eating, and, out nowhere, Drake was suddenly there. He said 'Hi, my peeps,' then started laughing. Me and Quinn and the others were freaked out and we kept telling him to leave, but then he whipped us as we turned away. That's how we have these cuts."

"And, damn, they hurt," Quinn muttered.

"I bet," Brother said. "Drake Merwin creeps me out. That arm of his . . . I wouldn't want to be anywhere near that thing."

It was silent for a second, but Quinn pointed to a near cabin just up ahead. "That's where Lana stays, on the left. She used to stay at Clifftop, but now she stays over here."

They approached the cabin, all standing on the porch, Albert knocking on the door. The four of them waited for a second, but then the door opened and Lana was standing there, Sanjit behind her.

"Albert? Quinn?" Lana questioned, looking at Brother and Emily. "Who are those two? And why are you guys here? What happened?"

"Can we come in?" Quinn queried.

"Yeah, of course." She opened the door completely, moving to the side so the four of them could come in. She looked at Sanjit, who had a curious expression on his face and she knew that he, too, could tell something was not right.

She looked at Albert and Quinn as they walked by behind Emily and Brother. Her and Sanjit saw at the same time the cuts on their backs. Instinctively, Lana mumbled, "Drake Merwin."

"Yup," Quinn said as they all four sat down on the long couch. "That's who this is about."

Sighing, Sanjit followed Lana as they both sat on the smaller couch that faced the long one. Before they began to start talking, Sanjit put his hand on hers.

"So," Lana said. "Who wants to tell me what happened with Drake?"

"I will," Quinn offered. "To sum it up quickly, me and Albert were at Ralph's. We had stopped working to eat something when Drake appeared right in front of us. He must have been really quiet when walking towards us. Anyway, he was laughing and we turned away, but he whipped us on our backs. So . . . Yeah."

"And, so, you two came to me to be healed," Lana said.

"Yes," Quinn said.

Lana shook her head. "Me and Sanjit had an encounter with Drake earlier, as well. In fact, we were about to head over to Astrid and Sam's house to talk to them about it now. How about, I heal you two, then we go to Sam's and talk about it over there?"

"Sounds good," Albert said.

Lana got to her feet. "Okay, who do I heal first?"

"Me!" Quinn got to his feet as quickly as possible. His cut was a little deeper, but that meant it stung a lot more. He turned his back to Lana, taking his shirt off and tossing it to the couch.

_He's so sexy_, Emily thought, and felt a sexual attraction to Quinn. She always thought he was hot, and it was weird because she wasn't the type of person to like a lot of dudes. There was just something about Quinn. He was tall, he was slim, and buff. And he had _abs _. . .

Emily wasn't a very sexual person, so she felt really awkward being turned on in a room full of people.

She breathed in a little and made a very quiet moaning sound that only she could hear as she felt herself get wet. She had read a book called _Teens and Sex _a few weeks ago to try to find out why the hell she was getting so fucking horny recently and it said that it was all part of puberty. She was pretty relieved that she found masturbation was pretty normal. Emily had recently been exploring her vagina, but found out around two years ago that rubbing her clit or sticking her fingers inside when it was wet felt so good . . .

_Oh, Lord_, she thought, shaking her head, trying to get all that lust and those sexual thoughts out of her head, yet when she looked up, she saw Quinn's shirtless body again and saw Lana rubbing his lower back, healing Quinn's cut. She stopped herself from imagining that it was hear who was healing him and all she had to do was move her hands around his waist and start to rub his cock . . .

"I'm done," Lana said.

Quinn put his right arm behind his back and touched the spot where the cut was. "Nothing," he said. "That's amazing."

Lana smiled. "That's what they always say. Albert?"

Quinn put his shirt back on, taking a seat back on the couch where Albert had been sitting, which was right next to Emily. She forced her horniness away and she was surprised that it worked.

Albert took his shirt off and wasn't nearly as buff as Quinn. In fact, he was chubby.

Lana healed him up a little faster than Quinn because his cut wasn't as deep.

"All right, we're done with that," Lana said as Albert put his shirt back on. "You all ready to go talk to Sam about this?"

Everyone nodded.

Sanjit walked across the room, opening the front door, letting Albert, Quinn, Emily, and Brother walk through, Lana behind the four of them. He turned off the living room light, then closed the door, locking it.

Emily and Brother fell behind by a few feet, Albert and Quinn in front of them, then Sanjit and Lana taking the lead. They all knew pretty much knew where to go. Who didn't know where Sam and Astrid lived?

It was a silent walk. They would rather get their thoughts out when speaking to Sam and Astrid. They were not the technically the leaders of the FAYZ, the Council—Orc, Howard, John, Sanjit, and Lana—was, but people still looked at Sam and Astrid like they were. In some way, it was like Sam was the President, Astrid was the Vice President, and the Council were the government representatives. People like Dekka Talent and Brianna, The Breeze, were like the army.

However, an army wasn't really necessary anymore at the moment because there was an odd peace in the FAYZ. Caine Soren seemed to be changing his ways, and Drake Merwin had been gone for a while.

At least until now.

When they arrived at Sam's house, Sanjit was the one to knock on the door.

As always, Sam answered the door, Astrid standing behind him. He opened his mouth to greet Sanjit, then frowned when he saw that they were a group of six.

"Sam," Sanjit said. "We need to talk to you."

FEAR


	17. SEVENTEEN

**SEVENTEEN|**

51 Hours, 3 Minutes

**NEREZZA WALKED** BEHIND the cabins, not wanting to take the risk of being seen. If someone saw her and knew who she was, they would tell Sam. If that happened, everyone would know what was going on. That would be horrible. She couldn't imagine how the Gaiaphage would punish her.

Speaking of the Lord, she could feel him connecting to her brain. _Come back. Now. Drake has captured the baby. Bring the others as well._

Disappointed that she wouldn't be able to get revenge on Orsay, Nerezza turned back and began to walk the way she came. She walked quicker than she had before, not wanting to walk the entire distance from here to the mine shaft alone. If she was quick enough, she would be able to catch up with Drake and Penny and probably find the others on the way.

Drake annoyed her, she supposed, but they were close in a way, having spent the past long months in the mine shift together. They talked a lot, sometimes about the strangest things.

After she was no longer the Gaiaphage's avatar, she became a regular person like everybody else. He didn't want to be in her body after he learned that Diana was pregnant. He would rather take over the baby's body since it was likely to have great power than be stuck in her limited body.

So, when she became human, a little over a year ago, she had a different mindset. Yes, she still wanted to serve the Darkness, that was always her number one priority, but she also wanted other things when she changed. She wanted to socialize. Sadly, Drake was the only one to do that with.

Stuck with the body and mind of a fifteen year old, she also wanted other things. She remembered the first time it happened. The first time between her thighs, where she would usually pee from, had became wet. The substance was not pee, but it made her have a strong desire. She remembered leaving the mind shaft, not telling Drake or the Darkness why, going to hide in the long, tall weeds, and inserting her fingers into it after rubbing it. The feeling was beyond amazing.

It felt like she was queen when she did it, until Drake had popped up. She felt, she recalled, for the first time, what embarrassment was.

Nerezza remembered Drake smiling that sick, twisted smile, like he had a bright idea. She had watched as he unbuckled his pants and let them drop to the floor. What he revealed was a fleshy thing, and it grew. She had been in awe with it, cautiously and slowly touching it.

Drake had grabbed her hair and forced her face to it as it grew very quickly. She normally would have been very angry, but something had felt right. She had put her mouth around the thing, moving up and down.

When she had finished, he started rubbing it, moving it up and down, so he had grabbed her hands and did the same. She remembered it coming to her and making her feel so stupid; this long stick-thing was supposed to go inside her good-feeling hole. So she had laid on her back and said, "Put it in."

And, he did.

He made her feel like never before. The way he moved it up and down lit up her world. It felt so good and she had begun moaning and smashing her hips onto his. They had done it for some time until she had a spasm and an overwhelming sensation went through her body, liquid sort of shooting out of her hole.

It had been amazing. So, that wasn't the only time. Every now and then, when she went to go pee outside the mine shaft, Drake would follow her and they would do it again. She supposed that was what made her like Drake, that hard, long, thick thing that he would put in her. She liked him for teaching her what sex was.

But, not only that. He was a good person to talk to. And they had the same sense of humor.

She became frustrated when, after thinking about Drake pleasuring her, that feeling came back to what she learned was called a vagina. Her vagina had got all wet. She looked all around, but found no bush to hide behind while she did her thing.

And, just then, quickly taking her mind off that, she bumped into someone. She would have worried if it was not Turk and Lisa.

"I thought it was going to take a while finding you two," Nerezza mumbled.

"What do you mean?" Lisa asked. "I thought we were all supposed to raise hell? Why would you be looking for us if you had been going to get that Orsay girl?"

The thought of Orsay made her grit her teeth. She wanted to revenge on Orsay. Even though Orsay had done nothing to her, Nerezza felt like it was all somehow her fault that she was almost killed.

"The Darkness told me to get everyone and go back to the mine shaft. Drake and Penny got Diana's baby."

Lisa and Turk began walking with Nerezza and were silent for a long second.

"So they stole Diana's baby and are going to use it to give the Gaiaphage human form?" Lisa queried.

"Yes," Nerezza responded. "The Darkness wants to use it to finally take over the FAYZ completely. His powers are weakening, or something like that."

"Well, I'm going home because I'm getting tired," Turk interrupted. "You coming Lisa?"

Before Lisa could say, "Yeah," Nerezza spun on him. "I am _not _letting you leave. You're going to walk with me in the dark to go catch up with Drake. Both of you. You are apart of this, too."

"What's in it for us?" Turk demanded.

Nerezza smiled. "Don't you see? We picked you all up for a reason. You're going to help us take over the FAYZ. You'll be more powerful than most people. Isn't that what you want? Why you and your punk ass little crew tried to take over?"

Lisa and Turk exchanged a look, but Turk was the one to speak again. "We're in."

They walked silently for another few minutes. Lisa was thinking. Sure, she had stuck around with the Human Crew because the leader had been her boyfriend. She had put up with all their bullshit only because of that. She was not a power freak like they had all been, like Turk still was, but she figured she had nothing better to do. So why not help take over the FAYZ?

Although she was didn't care about people a lot of the times, she wasn't completely heartless. There had been a point in her life where she had sort of loved. Her family, she supposed. They had been all right to her.

So, was this really what she wanted to do? Rule the FAYZ and cause people harm. She didn't really care about others much, but she did to some degree, at least. She did not want people to just die. And, yet, she knew that this would boil down to that.

Lisa wouldn't decide whether or not to do the right thing or the wrong thing. If she did the right thing and turned away now, what would she be going back to? A life where she was a nobody in the FAYZ? Where she would barely get by, sometimes on an empty stomach because there was hardly any food in this place?

And, then, there was the wrong thing. Sure, it would be immoral. But, maybe the direction of her life would change. If she did help take over, she would probably be fed more, paid more attention to, and have more power than before.

She still considered, not sure what to do.

"Those fucking traitors!" Nerezza whispered harshly.

They were walking behind cabins in the dark, so they didn't really have to hide, but Turk and Lisa covered their faces when they saw Nerezza pointing to a cabin not too far away. They looked in the direction of Nerezza's finger to see that Emily and Brother were at Sam Temple's door with four well-known people in the FAYZ; Quinn Gaither, Albert Hillsborough, Sanjit Brattle-Chance, and the great Healer, Lana Arwen Lazar.

Turk laughed quietly so they wouldn't be heard in the silent darkness. "I don't know why they came along in the first place. It's pretty obvious that they wouldn't be on the bad team. They're too scared. They act bad, but they are just two, little punks."

Nerezza mentally agreed. Why had she let Drake pick them up? If they were good guys, what made him think they would be on their team? It was all too stupid. Drake wasn't the smartest fish in the sea, after all.

"Well, let's keep moving," Nerezza said, quickening her pace, wanting to reach Drake and Penny faster. "We can't let those backstabbers take too much of our time. We need to reach the Darkness quickly. I'm sure he would like to see our newest teammates."

* * *

><p>Sam had his head in his hands. He rubbed his temple, and somehow managed to laugh at the fact that it was his last name. It was only a brief chuckle, though, because he could feel everyone's eyes on him; Lana, Sanjit, Quinn, Albert, Emily, Brother, and Astrid.<p>

"So," Sam said. "Let me get this straight. Lana, Sanjit, you two saw Drake take Penny." They nodded. "Quinn, Albert, you two were whipped by Drake." They nodded. "Emily and Brother, you two were captured by Drake and you heard him say he was taking Diana's baby?" Hesitant, they nodded. "Well, that summarizes everything. Looks like Drake is having fun with this."

It was silent. Astrid was the to ask, "What are we going to do?"

Sam thought for a moment, formulating a plan. "Well, I think the first thing we need to do is notify everyone. Call for an immediate meeting with the Council and we will decide. We'll call Caine, Dekka, Brianna, Orc, all of our important people there for sure. Once they are all there, we'll fill everyone in so that we aren't just all over the place. Sanjit, Lana, since you two are members of the Council, contact Orc, Howard, and John. Tell them to go to Town Council. Ring the Perdido Beach bell and let all the people know there is going to be a meeting at midnight. I will do the same for everybody here at the lake. But, first, I need to go to Diana. Before it's too late."

Sam stood, but looked at Brother and Emily and he realized he hadn't given them a job. "You know what? I want you two to go with Astrid and notify everyone that there will be a Town Hall meeting. There's not enough time." They all exited onto the porch of the house, Sam turning off all the lights. "Everyone. Drake's out there. Watch your backs. Be safe."

FEAR


	18. OUTSIDE

**OUTSIDE|**

**WORDS COULDN'T **DESCRIBE the stress and deep depression Connie Temple had adopted this past year and a half. Or, more accurately, seventeen months. Which would be a year and five months. Just short of a year and a half.

Ever since everybody fifteen and over transported to the outside of a pearly barrier, she convinced herself that her life had only one meaning; to see her son—or _son's_, she should say—and all the other kids of worried parents somehow escape the dome.

There wasn't much she could do about it. After all, she was just an upset parent, like all the others. However, she could _definitely _hear every theory, every suggestion, and every _idea _of how this started and how it might end, if it ever did.

_God knows that I do hope that this will end_, she thought, sighing.

Her social life had surprisingly changed. Before the FAYZ, her boy, Sam, was the only one she really ever spoke it. It was depressing, really, to speak to no family, no husband, or anything like that. Not that she ever had a husband. Just a guy who left.

Instead of being a loner, two people had grown very important to her; Abana Baidoo and Darius Ashton. One was her best friend and the other was her boyfriend.

Abana, her best friend, and herself were the two adults that were supposed to keep all the other parents updated with the latest news, theories, and activities that were being taken to try to figure out how to put a stop to the barrier.

Darius was, somewhat, her boyfriend. They had a very unusual relationship. They were interested in each other, yet they didn't hesitate to look at themselves as simply associates.

He was the one to give her all the theories they had come up with and tell her what the governments ideas and plans were. It was never anything important, but the simple things mattered in one way or another.

Although there was much controversy and attention brought to the dome, it eventually died out. Not as many people visited the sight anymore, and the government, it seemed, hardly cared. Their only plans, according to her associate-boyfriend, Darius, was to keep it stabilized. Their lack of effort really upset her. She often had found herself questioning her own government.

Now, though, at three in the morning, she was sitting across from Darius in a Starbucks booth. She took a sip of her coffee, then stared wonderingly into his eyes. He was pretty attractive guy to her in a way that didn't make sense. She wondered if he felt the same.

"Connie," he said, and she shot him a sharp look, since he seldom called her by her name. Usually, it was, "babe," or something like that. "I have something to tell you."

"It must be really important. And that's good. It's about time something big happens."

He leaned over the table, speaking in a whisper. "You know the things I've been telling you? They've let all that slide because they simply didn't care if anybody knew." She knew the word "they" referred to the government.

"But, what's going to happen, they care a lot about keeping it a secret. When I was getting dressed to come down here to meet with you, I found a device in my dresser. At first, I didn't know what it was. But, then, I saw that it was so they could hear everything I did. I inspected all my clothes, and there were at least one of the devices hidden in every piece of clothing I had."

"I get it," she said. "They want whatever they told you to be kept a secret. And, chances are, you'll get in really big trouble if they find out you're telling me. But, spit it out. What is it?"

"They're calling NEST. Nuclear Emergency Support Team."

"NEST?"

"Yes." He nodded. "They're going to nuke the dome."

"Why would they do that?" Connie asked. "We already know that won't have any affect on it."

"Because the dome is weakening," he explained. "They got signal that the waves are becoming less powerful. The strength is now ninety eight point four percent. Although it's not much, it's still something."

"It's weakening," Connie whispered in amazement, and felt some kind of hope. "But, if they nuke the barrier, then won't the kids inside be harmed?"

"There's two possibilities," Darius explained. "One, it will be bad. Everything inside and around the wall will be completely destroyed. That's the bad scenario."

"There's a good scenario?" Connie questioned, feeling her hope build up even higher.

He frowned. "Good to the military. Not good to us. You see, it's logical that everything inside will come out once the wall comes down. But, they think that, whatever had caused this, is probably inside. They want to not take any chances. So, they don't want anything to get out. They are hoping that the dome will be strengthened and nothing will get out."

Connie felt that slowly building hope shatter like glass. "Wait, so they're going to try to keep my kids in there forever? They can't do that."

"Sadly, they can," Darius mumbled. "They don't want to kill the kids, but they know that whatever is in there will get out if they do."

Connie had no response for a long moment. But, then, she looked up at him with determination. "So, what are we going to do?"

Darius hung his head, not making eye contact. "_I _can't do anything. I'm just here to give you information. I took an oath not to tell anyone anything. I just broke it. I'll be lucky if I get away with telling you. But, I don't want to push this any further. To tell the truth, there's really no way we can fight this. If I try to fight it from inside, I'll fail immediately. They'll have jailed. You, well, you can try to expose their plan."

"How?"

"The media," Darius said. "It'll quickly get out to the news. Everyone will know about it. Gather all of the parents and protest. That's probably all you can do. I can only hope that will be enough."

"I hope so, too," she agreed.

He picked his head up and lightly touched her arm. "Please, don't tell anyone it was me who told you this. If you do, I'll probably sit in prison for a long time . . . Turns out, everyone who fucks with the government is the one that gets fucked up in the end."

FEAR


	19. NINETEEN

**NINETEEN|**

48 Hours, 0 Minutes

**SAM RAN** FORWARD, in a rush to get to Diana's house. He hoped Drake didn't get to Diana yet. He knew how much Drake hated Diana and couldn't imagine what he would do. Hopefully, Caine could take him on. It was a good thing that Caine had changed his ways and went back to Diana. Chances were, Caine would beat Drake. But Sam could never be sure.

He noticed the sun—or, the illusion of it—was coming up and a little bit of sunlight shined on his body. His heart pounded in his chest as he approached Diana's cabin, throwing open her door.

_Time to face your worst nightmare again_, he thought.

When he stepped into the cabin, he looked around quickly. Diana lay on the bed, her eyes closed. There was no sign of anyone else. No Caine. No Cassandra. No one.

He shook her body slightly.

Her body rolled over slightly and he saw that she had a knot on the right side of her head and her hands were horribly cut. A straight cut went through both of them. He had a feeling that Drake had already paid her a visit.

"Diana," he called, shaking her body, barely noticing she had dried tears on her face. "Diana, wake up."

She exhaled loudly, then started to cry. "Please, don't hurt me," she begged, her eyes still closed. She started to cry louder. "Give me my baby, I just want my baby!"

"It's Sam, Diana, wake up."

Then, she started screaming. "I'm sorry, Lord, please, don't punish me. I want to be forgiven, so I can be here with my baby. _Please_."

He shook her shoulders, scared, not wanting this to go on. "_Diana!"_

Her eye lids few open and she jerked her body up, burying her face into Sam's chest. She held him tight. He comforted her, taking a seat on the bed and patting her head.

She cried and cried for several minutes, but it felt like several hours. It was still sort of dark outside and he did not want to turn the lights on, scared that if he moved too fast, she would start screaming again.

Sam laid back with Diana's head still on his chest, and wished she would wake up. But, he wouldn't rush her.

Diana moved her hands around the bed, feeling for the blanket. She wrapped them around herself, then slowly climbed onto him.

She moved her hips slowly back and forth on his pants.

"Caine . . ." she whispered. "I want you . . ."

"Diana!" he shouted, pushing her off of him.

Her eyes fully opened now and she looked at him, very embarrassed. "Sam, I'm so sorry! I thought you were Caine and I was having a dream or something! I'm just so sorry!"

"It's okay," Sam said. "But, what happened? I saw your hands are all cut, and you have a knot on your forehead."

She put her face in her hands and Sam saw that she was crying again. "Caine left me, Sam. He left. I thought he was back and he left." She started sobbing violently, then slowed. "Brittney and Penny came and I was trying to protect Cassandra and I was fighting them off, but then she turned into Drake and he slide my palms open and I knew I couldn't fight him." She paused, crying hard and louder than he'd ever seen a girl cry. "He took my baby!"

He waited until she stopped for a second to speak. "Do you know where they went?"

"No," she whispered.

They were silent for a long second until he heard the bell. "Good morning. This is Astrid Ellison speaking. Sam has called for a very critical meeting at midday. Everyone is required to come. Yes, I am ringing the emergency bell. Everyone head to Town Hall immediately."

There was a pause and then she repeated it again and again. He watched Diana as he heard Astrid give the message he asked her to deliver to everyone.

She was the one who was in charge of repeating the message and ringing the emergency bell for the Lake and Sanjit and Lana were in charge of doing the same thing, except for Perdido Beach residents.

"Do you hear that, Diana? We need to go. I'll help you, if you want. But, we all need to be at Town Hall in less than six hours."

Diana looked up, shoving away the last of her tears. "I'm sorry." She let out a shaky breath, getting to her feet. "Okay. I'm fine. Now where do we need to go?" She tried to put a smile on her face, but Sam could still see the hurt and tortured look in her eyes.

"We need to go to Town Hall. I called for a emergency meeting when I heard Drake was here."

She slipped on her shoes, having trouble because of her large belly, then she walked towards the door. "Let's go."

They stepped out into the sunlight and started walking on the trail that lead from Lake Tramonto to Perdido Beach, along with everyone else, most of who were now rubbing their eyes, yawning, and complaining about how they were tired. The ones next to Sam and Diana were quiet, staring at Diana's cuts and the small knot on her forehead, whispering possibilities of what might have happened.

Brianna suddenly appeared next to him. "Hey, Sam," she greeted, frowning at Diana, wondering what had happened. "What's the deal?"

He sighed. "To make a long story short, Drake came to Diana and . . . Well, took her baby. I called for a meeting at Town Hall. Everyone is required to go."

"So, do I have a special job?" she asked hopefully.

"As a matter of fact, you do." He smiled. "Actually, you are the only with a special job. I want you to check every cabin and make sure everyone makes in to Town Hall from here. Then, I want you to check every house in Perdido Beach and make sure everyone makes it to Town Hall from there. Then, I want you to look around the rest of the FAYZ for anyone who might have been going on a walk or something and make sure they make it to Town Hall. Also, find out where Drake is." He put on a serious face. "But, do _not _do anything. Report it back to Town Hall by noon, when the meeting starts."

Brianna's jaw was wide. "Wow! I'm gonna have quite a day of action. Good. Well, I need to get to work. See you later, Sam."

Then, she disappeared.

* * *

><p>Caine walked through Perdido Beach sluggishly. At first, his walk was powerful and angry, but, about halfway, he calmed down and the tears stopped. His legs were killing him now because of how hard he was stomping. Very thankfully, he was about to be home.<p>

He felt bad about the way he left Diana, about the way she cried, but mostly the guilt that he had left his child. It hurt his heart.

Caine used to be able to not love anything or give a damn about anything. But now he felt like he'd grown up and power wasn't all he wanted. Everything didn't seem like a game anymore. It was almost like he'd received an entirely new mind. Sure, he was aware of his past and how he was, but that was no longer him. He needed time to think about this feeling and try to put a name on it.

Sighing, he pushed open the door to his house in Perdido Beach, and hurried to his bed, throwing himself onto it. His body felt good. Rest was what he needed.

_Everything will be all right as long as I'm asleep_, Caine thought.

* * *

><p>"So, how far are we away from the mine shaft?" Penny inquired. "I'm getting tired."<p>

"We're not too far away. We're pretty close. Maybe ten or fifteen minutes," Drake answered. "Why? You getting scared, Ms. Ballsy?"

"It's just that I'm getting tired, dumbass," Penny said.

"Yeah, whatever."

Although she was becoming exhausted, there was still part of her that feared what the darkness might be. And what would it do to her? Would it give her power, or make her its slave?

Respect was always something Penny wanted. All the other girls used to make fun of her when she was in school. They would push her, call her names, or knock her books over.

Not anymore, though. Nobody could disrespect her now. All she had to do was picture a monster and it would appear to them, scare them. Or make them think they were being killed or murdered. It made her feel good that nobody could mess with her now. But, she wanted more. She wanted to rule everything. She knew she didn't have the power now, but she was hoping the Gaiaphage would be able to give it to her, or at least make her immortal like Drake.

"Can you carry the baby? It won't shut the fuck up and it's driving me crazy!"

"Yeah, okay," Penny groaned, taking the girl into her arms. She walked forward lazily, and glanced down at the baby. It felt weird in her arms. She remembered when she used to love babies. She didn't anymore. All she loved was power. What used to be the dorky, nerdy, bullied Penny was now the cold, raw, ruthless Penny. At least, she hoped she would be that way with the Darkness's help.

Penny didn't want it to be known, but she had a plan of her own.

FEAR


	20. TWENTY

**TWENTY|**

42 Hours, 7 Minutes

**THE BREEZE **RAN, feeling amazing. Sam had told her she had to go to all of the cabins on Lake Tramonto and make sure everyone was on their way to Perdido Beach. She did that. Sam told her she had to check every house and store in Perdido Beach. She did that. He told her to go around most parts of the FAYZ. She did that. Now, she had to find out where Drake is. Sam told her not to start a fight with him, but to simply discover his whereabouts.

Brianna knew, for a fact, that Drake was headed to the mine shaft. She just didn't know where, on the path to the shaft, he was. So she started all the way at Diana's cabin and headed to the mine shaft from there. Chances were that he was pretty close. She was in the long, tall weeds. They started at the east of Lake Tramonto and went on for a few miles, then ended a few yards in front of the entrance to the mine shaft.

Over halfway through the weeds, she stopped at the sound of voices. She slowly moved closer to the voices, careful not too make much noise. As she pushed through the weeds gently, she came to a halt when she saw Turk, Lisa, and Nerezza walking. She followed them at their pace, using the impossibly tall weeds as cover.

"So, why exactly do Drake have to bring Diana's baby to the Gaiaphage?" Lisa queried. "I mean, how does that help them in their plan to take over the FAYZ?"

"The Darkness wants to transfer itself into the baby," Nerezza explained. "With its power, it can speed up the process of its growth. Once it gets to be old enough—I'm guessing at around our age so it fits in—the Gaiaphage will begin its reign."

They were all silent for a moment, then Turk asked the next question. "How long will that take? And will it hurt the baby?"

"I have no idea how long it will take," Nerezza responded. "But it shouldn't take too long. I know it won't hurt the baby, though. It can't. If the Gaiaphage hurts the baby, it's hurting itself."

_Oh, fuck_, Brianna cursed to herself silently. She couldn't let that happen. She sped as fast as her legs allowed her past them, past the weeds, towards the mine shaft. They probably just thought it was hard wind. That just showed how fast the Breeze could move.

Again, she stopped when she heard voices. This time, it was at the end of the weeds. Which meant they were only a few minutes away from the mine shaft. Brianna wanted to bad to fight Drake and Penny and take the baby back. But she couldn't. If she tried to hurt Drake, he would harm the child.

"This is it," Drake said with pride, pointing to the entrance of the mine shaft, showing Penny his home. "You ready?"

For a brief moment, Brianna wondered what Penny would need to be ready for. Drake had probably talked her into becoming another soldier of the Gaiaphage. That didn't surprise her one bit.

All her thoughts were interrupted when the baby let out a loud cry, and suddenly it couldn't stop crying. They entered the beginning of the mine shaft and the cries grew louder.

"I thought the Gaiaphage wouldn't hurt it?" Penny demanded.

"He didn't," Drake replied. "Chances are, the Darkness has already transferred itself into the baby since we're entering the shaft and it's letting us know it's proud of us and what we did."

Brianna couldn't help it anymore. "Stop!" she shrieked, dashing out of the very end of the weeds until she was a few feet away from Drake. "Give her to me _now_!"

Drake glanced to his right, then looked over his shoulder at her, then laughed. "I wouldn't be worried about the baby anymore, if I were you. The Darkness is already inside of it."

"You don't know that!" Brianna screamed. "Give her to me or … I'll kill you, Drake! I swear, I will!" She was so angry, so mad at him. How could he be so damn _evil_? And to a baby? It was sickening.

Drake laughed even harder now, then gestured to the right. "If I were you, I'd get a move on. Like I said, there are bigger problems you should be worrying about."

She looked in the direction he gestured. Of course, there was nothing but water, and, at the end of the water, the wall of the barrier that held them all inside. Trapped. She looked back at him, about to say something, then turned her head back in the direction quickly. Was it her or had a little black spot appeared in the dome?

She squinted and then saw the black spot had grew. Or was it just her eye sight?

"What in the—" she stopped mid-sentence as the black spot grew twice as large, then doubled again and again, shooting up the far east wall, spreading both upwards and sideways. It seemed to be multiplying at an impossible speed. She didn't believe it.

"I'll be back, you son of a bitch!" she yelled over her shoulder as she ran back towards Perdido Beach. The meeting was probably just starting. But she needed to tell Sam about this. She glanced back again and saw that it had multiplied at least a million times. And, though it was losing, it was racing her.

Brianna begin to cry as she ran, tears pouring out of her eyes.

She didn't know why the FAYZ dome was becoming completely black, but she feared it like she'd never feared anything, and something told her that, in a few minutes, everything in the FAYZ would be different.

* * *

><p><em>This isn't how town council meetings usually are<em>, Dekka Talent thought to herself. _They don't usually ring the emergency bell, early in the morning, telling you to go to Town Hall immediately. And Town Council sure as hell don't look as worried as they do now._

There were five members in Town Council, who sat behind a long desk, facing the audience chairs, the people who came to see the issue at hand. The Town Council consisted of Orc, Howard, John, Sanjit, and Lana. Every three months, there are Town Council elections. Anyone is allowed to run and attempt to persuade citizens of the FAYZ that they should vote for them. Current members of the Town Council can try to get re-elected, or, if they did not end up liking being a member, they can simply end their term on Town Council by walking away once the three month period is complete.

Dekka knew because she had been on Town Council when the system had first started. She hadn't been on the very first Town Councils, but close to it. She didn't dislike the job because it was too much work. No, it wasn't that much work, but, when the community ran into problems, there was a lot of stress of Town Council members, since they were the ones who made decisions.

She found it strange how Sam could call Town Council meetings, even though he wasn't on the committee. He was like the President, in a way. He was their leader, although he didn't want to claim to be. Sam told them that a Town Council was enough for now, when asked if he would be Lake Tramonto's President. And Dekka did not blame him one bit. She understood how he felt. She, herself, wasn't much of the leader type.

Too pass time, while everyone piled into the Town Council meeting room at Town Hall, she looked at some of the people who were behind the railings on the opposite side of the room. Howard and Orc were getting the prees seated, talking about how they were only halfway done with their shift as daycare sitters and how it was going to be a long day.

Sam was helping Diana get seated. Quinn and Albert were sitting by each other, Quinn biting his nails and Albert staring at his shoes, as if he was ashamed of something. Computer Jack was cleaning his glasses, probably worrying about Brianna. Sinder and Orsay were chatting away. Bug and Taylor were talking as well. Toto was taking a seat next to Emily and Brother, who were right beside Diana and Sam. The Town Council were talking to each other, getting ready for their speech.

"Okay, we need silence, everyone," Sanjit said after a moment. "We're going to have Sam Temple come up here and tell exactly what he knows right now, and then we will decide what our next step will be."

All eyes turned to Sam as he stood up, making his way down the small walkway between the benches everyone sat on. Sanjit took his seat and Sam took the main stand, facing everyone else, just like the council. Each five members of Town Council had microphones at their desk in case they needed to say something during the guest speakers speech.

"Good afternoon, members of Lake Tramonto and Perdido Beach. I apologize for awaking you so suddenly and early, but I want everybody to be aware of our situation, because, if not, the chances of people being harmed are much higher. Pretty much everyone is here, besides Brianna, because I have sent her on a special task, Astrid because she is probably making sure everyone knows a meeting is being held at this moment, and, my brother, Caine. Besides those three, I see pretty much everyone, so I will get started."

Sam looked at the crowd for a moment, waiting for any objections before he began. "I know you all are going to be very happy to hear that our good ol' friend, Drake Merwin, has returned. Apparently, he scooped up Penny to help him with whatever the hell he's doing this time. He paid Albert and Quinn a visit, lashed them on their backs. Thankfully, we had Lana to solve that problem for us. She always comes in handy."

Looking back at her, he winked and she smiled. "Well, thank you, Sam, I do what I can." The crowd waited for Sam to continue.

When he spoke again, looking at the crowd, he found he couldn't look at Diana while saying it. "Brother and Emily told me that Drake was planning on taking Diana's baby. By the time I got there, it was too late …"

Everybody turned their hands to Diana, who had her head down, intertwining her fingers. Sam could already tell his heart wasn't the only one that was hurting for her. It made him so damn angry, he wished he could kill his worst enemy, Drake. Only if there was a way …

"He took Diana's baby and now he is headed to Lord knows where. This is not acceptable, we need to form an army dedicated to getting rid of the bastard. If you're with us, amazing, if not, stay home, be safe. But, I just wanted everyone to be warned that danger is coming."

Everyone was silent until Brother John carried the meeting further. "Thank you for the update, Sam. You can take a seat now so the Council can discuss what we are going to do about this issue."

Sam went to go sit down again by Diana. Dekka could tell he was relieved that the Town Council existed because, now, he wasn't the one they looked to for making decisions. All he did was, sometimes, give them information, and they decided what was to be done. He didn't have to be looked up to anymore.

"I say you all quit worrying about the little punk and let me get my hands on him," Orc said.

"This is serious, Orc," Howard muttered.

"I was being serious."

"As for me, I say we build around Sam's idea," Lana said. "We could build a team, made up by people who really want to help us out with this problem. If you don't, that's fine, but stay home and be safe. Don't go for a walk when we're not even knowing what to expect."

"I'll say yes to that idea, under one condition," Brother John said. "Everyone who volunteers must stay together when possible. If we're all over the place, how will we defeat Drake?"

Lana nodded. "Right. Sanjit? Orc? Howard? What do you think?"

Sanjit shook his head. "Yes."

"Of course," Howard said.

Orc also agreed. "What else can we do, right?"

"Then it's set," Lana concluded. "Any volunteers here who want to be the commander of this little army?"

"I will," Orc volunteered. "I've been waiting a long for this."

Lana frowned, unsure. "Orc, are you sure? I mean, this is a heavy job. You can't fight him just because you don't like him, you have to be organized with everything. Keep track of your army, and all that stuff."

"Trust me, I ain't that stupid," Orc argued. "I've been in more battles than anyone else here. Even before the FAYZ started. I can hold my own."

"Any objections? No? Okay. Looks like we better start making our army, Orc!" Howard exclaimed excitedly. He wasn't much of a fighter, but he was adventurous.

"All right, so any volunteers, come up here and talk to Orc and Howard," Sanjit said. "They'll need to get your names down and all that stuff."

Some people stood up, including Sam, Dekka, Taylor, and others. Normally, they wouldn't accept so many people to go into combat, but they had no idea what was coming.

A loud noise at the doors. Everyone turned their heads to see Brianna standing there with a look of fear on her face. She was breathless. That in itself was a statement. More importantly, she looked scared.

"Brianna, what is it?" Sam demanded, shoving through people to get to her.

"It's coming," she breathed. "The Darkness."

* * *

><p>Although it was Brianna's job to check the cabins at Lake Tramonto and the houses at Perdido Beach, Astrid wanted to make sure nobody was left behind. She'd already checked all the cabins and mostly all of the houses. There was only one left, at the end of the street. A nice looking house, fancy. It was probably Albert's home. He was most likely the richest person in the FAYZ. She was just glad that, after checking this house, she could go to the Town Council meeting and rest for a moment.<p>

The front door was unlocked, so she went inside easily. If this was Albert's house, he wasn't the type to decorate. It was bland. Sure, it had couches and DVD players and a good size television, but just the basics.

Astrid supposed no one in the FAYZ really decorated their home. Some girls did, but only a few. Most of them were just kids who only wanted what they needed. Most of the time, that was just DVD players, televisions, and all the other necessary electronics. They needed that stuff, it was their only form of entertainment.

Most of the house was empty, but in the room at the end of the hall upstairs was a handsome boy sleeping in his bed. Astrid walked over to the side and identified him as Caine Soren. Sam's brother.

"Caine," Astrid called, shaking his shoulders gently. "Wake up. There's a meeting."

A quiet groan as his eyes opened. "What? What are you doing here?"

"Just get ready. I'll explain everything on the way to Town Hall. We have to go now, though. The meeting has probably already started."

She felt bad for him. How was she supposed to tell him that Drake whipped Diana and their kid? Although Caine could be pretty heartless at times, she knew that he had to love his child to some extent. Every parent did, in a way, right?

Rubbing sleep from his eyes, Caine sat up, stretching and letting out a yawn. "I left the door open?"

"Yes," Astrid answered. "Judging from that and the fact that you're still in your clothes, something tells me you were really tired when you got back home." She knew why, Sam told her, but she didn't want to bring it up.

"Let's just say that last night wasn't my best," Caine mumbled, standing up. "Get out so I can change into some different clothes."

Astrid said, "I'll wait for you in the living room, you know, so you won't have to walk alone." She closed the door and walked down the upstairs hall, quietly walking down the stairs and into the living room. She sat on the couch and waited.

In her opinion, Caine Soren had one of the most complex personalities she'd ever had to deal with. One minute, he wanted to make a change in his attitude, then the next he was back to being an asshole. But, majority of the time, he was an asshole. It seemed like he _wanted _everybody to hate him.

"You ready?" Caine was standing across the room, leaning against the room, arms folded. "You were rushing me, so let's get a move on."

They walked out of the house together. Caine locked the door and shoved the key back into his pocket. They walked silently down Ocean Boulevard for a moment until Astrid spoke. "It must be nice living next to Town Beach. The few dozen people that still live here in Perdido Beach mostly stay near Town Plaza and Town Hall. You know, so they can be close in case there are meetings, like today."

"Well, I don't like the people, just like the people don't like me, sweetheart," Caine riposted.

"Don't call me that."

"No problem, sweetheart," Caine said.

Astrid stared at him as they walked. He was smiling, clearly enjoying getting on her nerves. "You know, maybe if you stopped being so rude, more people would get along with you."

"And how would you know that?"

She looked at her feet as she walked. "A lot people don't like me either. But, I'm nice to them. If I wasn't, I'd be like you."

"Is that supposed to be an insult?" Caine demanded.

"No. I was just saying."

They turned right on San Pablo Avenue. Town Hall was where Alameda Avenue and San Pablo met, so it was about a ten minute walk from here. Astrid wondered how Caine was going to react when he found out what had happened to Diana. Something told her it wasn't going to be pretty.

Either way, things were going to get ugly in the FAYZ.

_**FEAR**_


	21. TWENTY-ONE

**TWENTY-ONE|**

42 Hours, 2 Minutes

**SAM** **WAS **THE first to run up to Brianna, who looked confused, tired, and scared. Those three emotions were hardly ever on the Breeze's face. "What do you mean, 'The Darkness is coming'?"

"Outside," Brianna breathed, pointing to the closed Town Hall doors. "Look outside."

Pushing through the Town Hall doors, with mostly everybody behind him, Sam marched outside, down the few steps that led to the doors. He looked in the sky, but there was nothing. Then, he turned in the other direction and saw what appeared a thick, black goo spreading rapidly along the barrier.

"Oh, shit," Sam whispered, his mouth falling open.

Whispers among the crowd as everyone observed the blackness. Sam saw that the black goo shielded sunlight from coming in, so everything under it was black. No light. Just darkness. Sam couldn't live in darkness. It was a secret, but he was terrified of the darkness. He felt his stomach tighten as people sighed, gasped, and screamed at the darkness.

With every second, it seemed to double its speed and now they had to crane their necks so that their eyes were looking directly above them. The goo had covered most of the FAYZ and, in just a few seconds, there was hardly any sunlight. There was no doubt that, in a minute or two, there would no longer be sunlight in the FAYZ.

* * *

><p>Astrid and Caine walked together, still silent. She'd never been much of a social person, but, ever since she'd thrown Little Pete to the bugs, ever since she'd started questioning her beliefs, ever since she <em>changed<em>, socializing was one of the only activities that kept her mind off of those memories.

She didn't want to remember or think about her problems. She didn't want to let the guilt take over from throwing Petey out the window. She didn't want to think about her losing her faith in God. But, more importantly, she didn't want to face the fact that she still believed in God, but pushed it away because she felt like a horrible person.

Then, she found herself remembering everything bad that happened in her life, the images racing through her head. Petey screaming, Drake laughing, her calling Petey a retard, and then, him on top of her. Her father on the floor, him taking pleasure to her screams, to her pain, to her _fear_. "No, no, no, stop remembering!" she screamed, her knees collapsing.

She felt Caine's arms on her shoulders. "Astrid, what's wrong? Why are you crying?"

"It's nothing," she mumbled, wiping away the tears and making her expression look as if she'd never been crying in the first place. "I just had a panic attack. I get those sometimes." She looked him in the eye, smiling, but he didn't buy it. "No, really, I do."

They looked each other in the eye for a second, but simultaneously turned their heads to the right when it seemed like the sky got dim. In the distance, a black substance rushed along the barrier, making the sky darker and darker as the seconds passed.

"Town Hall," Astrid whispered. "Now!"

Caine helped her to her feet, and they took off running down the street. In just a few seconds, they were entering the front parking lot of Town Hall. Everybody stood around, watching the black substance spread by the second, taking over.

Astrid noted that Caine shoved past everybody, going straight inside Town Hall as if he was mad at the crowd. She looked around and saw Sam staring into space, like he was daydreaming. His jaw hung open and he looked speechless. "Sam!" she hollered, jogging to stand by his side.

Snapping out of his gaze, he looked at her.

He nodded, acknowledging that he saw her, then turned to the crowd, cupped his hands around his mouth, and spoke. "Everyone inside _now_!"

It took only a second until everybody was running back inside Town Hall. Most of them looked scared, some of them were shaking, a few even crying. Astrid guessed that some of them were scared of the dark, just like Sam was. She thought she'd see more fear on his face, but there was hardly a hint of it. She knew that Sam had been scared too many times since the FAYZ had started, just like she had, but there was a difference between them; she couldn't hide her emotions like he could.

Astrid sat down in the rows, just like everybody else, except members of Town Council, who sat in their special chairs. Brianna walked slowly down the walkway on the side of the benches, searching for a seat. Sam stood at the end of the walkway, staring at her, slightly sweating.

"What made that black goo?" Sam inquired.

"I don't know," Brianna answered. "When I was trying to find out where Drake was, like you told me, I heard some people talking. So, I listened to them, then I ran and, not too far away, I found Drake and Penny. I was peeking through some weeds and they were going into the mine shaft. That's when I saw the darkness coming and I ran. I ran as fast as I could."

"My baby!" Diana shouted. "Did he have my baby?"

Brianna looked down at her worn out sneakers. She didn't want to tell Diana.

"Did they have Cassandra with them?" Caine asked softly. The crowd all looked at him. He was playing with his fingers, twisting them. His voice had sounded like it was going to break and his eyes had started to water.

"Yes," Brianna finally responded. "I think they had Cassandra."

As she watched all of this—Brianna giving everybody the bad news, Caine sit down, his head hung low, and Diana burst into tears—Astrid felt like she was sitting front row to a reality show. Caine and Diana were on opposite sides of the room, but it was clear that this was heartbreaking news to the both of them.

"You said you heard some people talking—what are you talking about? And what were _they _talking about?" Sam questioned.

"They were in two groups, heading to the same place; the mine shaft. I found Nerezza, Turk, and Lisa in some weeds, on their way to the shaft. Then, not too far in front of them, I found Penny and Drake. They were about to enter the mine shaft with the baby. I was going to kill that bastard but that's when I saw the blackness." She paused. "I … I don't know what they were talking about. I … couldn't hear."

Astrid watched Sam digest the news. The entire crowd was speechless. She couldn't imagine how she would feel if she was a parent, stuck in a giant bubble she couldn't escape, whose baby was stolen from her. She wondered how much Diana and Caine were hurting right now.

"I don't know why they took Cassandra," Sam said. "But I do know that, whatever the reason is, it can't be good. And we can't let them get any further. Only a handful of us will go. Brianna, Caine, Orc, and myself. Everybody needs to stay in Town Hall. Jack, Dekka, you two stand guard outside to make sure nobody leaves."

"There's no way you're gonna leave me out of the action!" Dekka objected.

Sam frowned. "There's a chance they staged it and they're really coming here while we go there. That way, whatever it is they want, it would be easier."

"Okay, okay," Dekka agreed.

"Brianna, Caine, Orc, let's go," Sam said.

The three of them started towards the entrance to Town Hall. Sam was there first since he had already been standing. He waited for Brianna, Orc, and Caine, who seemed out of it. But he couldn't blame him, considering the circumstances.

Brianna gave Jack a hug and a romantic kiss on the cheek. "I'll be back, Jack. Love you."

"You, too," Jack whispered as she walked away.

The four of them exited the doors, silent. They knew they had to go to the mine shaft. They just didn't know what to expect. For Caine, it was probably much more complicated than that.

As they walked down the steps, leaving Town Hall, they heard something move. They all stopped, listening. Then, the something tumbled.

"Damn it," a voice mumbled.

Since they were barely walking down the steps, a little bit of light from Town Hall reached them, but not much. Orc peered, trying make out who it was with the little light there was from Town Hall. "Howard, is that you?"

"Yeah, I hit my toe on the railing," he explained.

"What are you doing? You're supposed to be inside," Sam said.

"I know, but I want to tag along. I mean, I'll be bored without Orc."

"Hate to break it to you, Howard, but the four of us all have something pretty useful. Caine and I are four bars, Brianna's a three, and Orc is made of rock. You … well, you don't," Sam pointed out.

Howard smiled, lifting up his shirt and reaching in his pants, pulling something out. "Colt M1911 pistol, baby, the longest service pistol of the U.S."

"How the _hell _did you get that?" Sam demanded.

"Well, there's some guns in houses here in Perdido Beach, but, one time, me and Orc were at the Power Plant and they all kinds of guns! From machine to shotguns. I've been practicing with this Colt here lately and I think I'm a fair shot. Probably better than everybody else here in the FAYZ."

Sam shook his head. "All right, you can come, just put that thing away for now." He knew that if people started relying on guns, the FAYZ would be even worse. Luckily, very few people had access to them.

"We're gonna go down Alameda Road, turn right on Brace, left on the highway, turn right when we get to Coates and go through Trotter's Ridge until we get to the mine shaft," Sam directed.

"We know how to get there, smart ass," Howard commented.

"Just thought I'd say it in case anybody forgot how to get there. 'Cause we have about an hour and a half walk ahead of us." He paused. "Smartass."

* * *

><p>As soon as Sam, Caine, Brianna, Orc, and Howard left, Dekka and Jack stood up and made their way to the main entrance doors to go stand guard. Jack flicked the light switch so they would have good lighting as they stood in front of the Town Hall steps. He and Dekka sat on the highest step, watching the five others walking down Alameda, heading to the mine shaft, about to disappear from sight.<p>

"First, we didn't have electricity, then when I get the electricity back up, the sunlight vanishes," Jack laughed.

"Yeah, I knew everything was going too well," Dekka agreed. "You can never win in the FAYZ."

* * *

><p>"You do know that once we exit the highway, there won't be streetlights to help us see, right?" Howard inquired.<p>

"I'll just use my power or whatever you wanna call it," Sam responded. "You know, the light that comes out of my hands."

"Yeah, we're all familiar with your fire hands," Orc mumbled. "Most people that hate you, it's because of that. They're either jealous or afraid of your power."

"Is that why you didn't like me?" Sam retorted.

Orc chuckled. "Don't get your hopes up. You know damn well I didn't like you even before the FAYZ. But, now, you're okay." He patted Sam on the back.

"Well, that's the last streetlight, so I guess you should start using your hands as our flashlight," Brianna suggested as they past the last streetlight, which was at the end boundary of the apartment complex that had been burned down at the very beginning of the FAYZ. It was one of the biggest moments in Sam's life. The moment he found out that he wasn't the only kid who had strange, unexplainable powers.

"You got it," Sam said and he lit his hands up. It was crazy to think that, almost a year and a half ago, he didn't know how to control the fire that blazed from his palms, and now he didn't have to give it a second thought. When he wanted the light, he could make it appear. That simple.

As they passed the green sign that announced they were exiting the limits of Perdido Beach, Sam couldn't stop his thoughts from racing. Part of him wanted to run as fast as he could until he got to the mine shaft and rip Drake Merwin to shreds. The other part was more reasonable. He knew it would be too foolish. He knew he couldn't go alone. And he knew that the others were already walking as fast as they could.

"There's Coates Academy." Howard pointed to the right of the highway. Computer Jack had powered all the electricity back on, but he hadn't for Coates Academy. Nobody stayed there. It was just a place of the past. Most people stayed at Lake Tramonto and the ones that didn't stayed with Caine at Perdido Beach. Because there was no power, they almost passed it up. It was hard to see it from they distance they were standing, even with Sam using the light from his hands.

The five of them walked around the gate to Coates. They went to the right, away from Coates Academy property. In just a few minutes, they were walking through the hills of Trotter's Ridge. Once they passed here, they would have to go through a forest and then they'd be at the mine shaft. This was the longer part of the trip. It took about thirty minutes to get where they were from Town Hall. It would take about an hour to get to the mine shaft from the beginning of Trotter's Ridge.

Howard sighed. "And this is the tiring part of our trip."

* * *

><p>Albert Hillsborough sat in between Leslie-Ann and Quinn Gaither. He was extremely upset. "This is bad. Real bad. How the hell are we supposed to make profit by fishing if the whole damn FAYZ is nothing but black?"<p>

"If it makes you feel any better, you don't usually fish with us," Quinn commented.

"I don't need to. I'm not a fisher, I'm more like the boss. If it wasn't for me, nobody would have food."

"True," Leslie-Ann agreed. She usually kept quiet unless she had something nice to say about Albert. It wasn't that she feared him, but she was like his servant and sort of his best friend. Although he was a little too serious about business, he was overall a good guy.

Quinn also tried to talk positive. He was pretty much an optimist, whereas Albert was a pessimist. "It'll be all right, Albert. Whenever something happens in the FAYZ, everything always turns out to be okay."

"I suppose you're right. But, this problem is different than anything we've had to put up with. We don't know what caused the sky to turn black, so what do you expect to happen? It's not just gonna go back to normal in a few days. Things don't work out that way."

He remembered his life before the FAYZ. It was a lot worse than what it was now. Even though everyone disliked the FAYZ, Albert secretly loved it. Here, he was somebody. He was important. He was needed.

And he had power.

* * *

><p>Just as Drake was about to begin descending into the mine shaft with Penny at his side, he heard somebody call his name. He turned around and saw Nerezza, Turk, and Lisa waving, jogging towards them. He and Penny walked to the entrance of the mine shaft, meeting them halfway.<p>

"Lisa, Turk, Nerezza, what are you doing here?" Drake demanded. "I gave the three of you orders. Why aren't you following them?"

"When have I _ever _let you tell me what to do?" Nerezza said. "Anyway, the Darkness summoned me. He told me to get Turk and Lisa and bring them back."

Drake frowned. "What about Emily and Brother?"

"They betrayed us," Nerezza replied. "I'm not at all surprised. I told you from the beginning they wouldn't stay loyal. You and your stupid ideas. They were telling Sam everything they knew about us. Chances are, he'll come looking for you pretty soon."

"So? I _want _him to come here!" Drake yelled. "What are you smiling like I'm scared of him for? I'd rip him apart. You know that!"

Nerezza rolled her eyes. "Sure, whatever. Let's get a move on."

Nodding, Drake took the lead, with Nerezza at his side, and Lisa, Turk, and Penny behind them. Penny put his hands at the sides of her head. "I have a headache. I can _feel _something in me! Is it … is it the Darkness?"

Grinning, Drake answered, "Probably."

_Thank you for coming to me, Penny. You'll be a very good player on my team. I'm happy to have you here._ When it spoke inside her mind, it was like she couldn't even move. She was numb, cold, but she kept moving forward, anxious to meet the Gaiaphage.

The trip descending into mine shaft was going to be rough, she could already tell. After a few minutes, it got much more and their feet couldn't help but move quickly down the shaft.

Lisa was constantly looking over at Turk, unsure about all of it. She could practically _feel _the evil inside this shaft. She could feel it hiding at the very bottom. She could be a cold person at times, and had done things she was no longer proud of, but whatever was in this shaft was evil beyond anything she had ever been

Turk seemed to be more and more in awe every time she glanced at him. There was some fear there, but mostly awe.

She wasn't the type to scare easily, but her stomach was filled with fear and dread. Her hands were shaking and, in a few seconds, she was trembling. She felt the dark spirit wanting her, almost calling her. It wanted for her to let it in, but she refused. It made her head spin, all of this silent communication.

"We're almost halfway," Drake announced. "Be careful because, when we get real close, it gets way steeper than this. It's almost a drop, so you might have to run. And you might fall. We're gonna speed-walk for now."

"Our feet already hurts as it is and you want us to speed walk?" Lisa demanded, trying to cover up the fear she felt about what might happen when they reach their destination. "We're already walking at a fast pace."

"I don't care, walk faster!" Drake snapped. "We don't have time, we need to get to the Gaiaphage as soon as possible!"

"All right, fine," she agreed, although she didn't like the sound of it one bit.

The rest of the way were the worst minutes of Lisa's life. She got colder and colder the further they went. At first, she was afraid to reach the end of this mine shaft, but, now, she just wanted to get it over with. Her feet hurt and she shivered tremendously. Lisa was always the type of girl to get cold quicker than most people. Turk, Drake, Nerezza, and Penny were shivering, too, but nothing compared to how she was.

"H-how m-much fu-further?" Lisa stammered.

Nerezza answered. "I'd say a couple minutes. The trip, all together, is hardly over fifteen minutes, I don't know why you're acting like it's such a big deal." Nerezza and Drake had adapted to the coldness in the mine shaft, so it wasn't anything new to them, like it was for Lisa.

Previously, they had been able to see virtually nothing, but, now there was a slight glow of faint green light in the distance. Wherever it was, it seemed a lot lower than the level of ground they were already on.

"Remember the slope large slope I told you about?" Drake queried. "Well, get ready 'cause it's gonna come up real soon."

Just as Lisa was going to say something, she found her feet shuffling forward uncontrollably. She was almost running down the slope, that was the only way to keep her balance. For a second, she remembered when Zil and herself would run down hills, holding hands, trying to slow down, but not being able to since the hills were so steep. She missed that.

Since they were running down the slope to keep their balance, the green light was getting a lot closer as they continued. Lisa felt a rock hit her toe and, before she knew it, she tripped, rolling down, feeling the sharp points of rocks making small cuts on her skin.

When she was done rolling, finally at the end of the mine shaft, she opened her eyes. She had to squinted them because of the bright, glowing, green light. It seemed that the sparkly crystals were what was giving the light off.

Penny, Turk, Nerezza, and Drake had caught up and were now standing beside her, buts he didn't pay them any mind. She was too mesmerized by the crystals. They almost made her feel like she was in some sort of trance. Although she feared these crystals, she knew they simply magnificent. Brilliant.

"I guess that was a fast trip, huh, Lisa?" Turk joked, but all the humor in his voice was gone because he, too, fascinated. No, not fascinated, _enthralled._

"So … this is it?" Lisa asked. "The Gaiaphage?"

Nerezza turned to her, smiling. "Yes. Yes, it is."

As they stared into each others eyes, Penny grunted. "My … my head hurts." She tried to dismiss it, but then she fell to her hands and knees, clutching at her head. At first, she seemed in pain, but her features eased.

She smiled, tears rolling down her cheeks. She started to laugh to herself, completely joyful. "Yes. Yes! Come into my mind, sir. Please do!"

Penny stopped there. Again, her expression changed. It went from joyful to neutral. Her forehead creased, her jaw tightened, fist bawled, and then her eyes turned completely red.

Lisa's horrified expression matched how she felt. She had her doubts as they had descended into the mine, but not anymore: she was a hundred percent sure that this was pure evil. She was shocked. She couldn't move.

"Mission completed," the Gaiaphage said through Penny's mouth, looking at Nerezza and Drake. Cassandra, who was in Drake's arms, suddenly started crying, screaming at the top of her lungs. She had been a quiet baby up until now.

"I see you have recruited three people. I only required Penny, but, the more, the merrier." She turned her red eyes to Lisa and Turk. "And your names are?"

"T-T-Turk," he stuttered. "She, she's Lisa. My friend."

"Ah, Lisa, Turk, I was wondering when I was going to meet you two," the Gaiaphage said. "I know all about you. The last members of the Human Crew." She was mostly looking at Lisa now. "I know you're confused, Lisa, but I can assure you, you'll get used to it here."

Lisa was trembling. Not from the cold, but from fear. She was immobile. As bad as she wanted to leave, she couldn't. it was like she was being controlled. A tear drop left her right eye. Suddenly, she was sorry for everything she did. She understood she was a bad person, but she was not in any way as evil as the Gaiaphage.

"What … What _are_ you?" Lisa squealed. Whatever it was, this _thing _it wasn't even remotely human. "You're … you're evil. You're a _demon_!"

The Darkness, using Penny's body, looked amazed as it reached to touch her arm. "Don't you understand, Lisa? I'm not a demon, I'm _God_."

* * *

><p>"Tongue kiss Trotter's Ridge goodbye!" Howard laughed as they reached the end of the last hill of Trotter's Ridge. He never liked the place. It was just a bunch of hills. It was pointless to even give it a name.<p>

"Amen to that," Brianna agreed. She had taken the lead of the five of them, along with Sam. Howard and Orc were closely behind them, and Caine was a few feet behind the group. He hadn't spoke a word. He didn't even look angry, just down. Depressed.

Rethinking his comment, Howard said, "Even though Trotter's Ridge is tiring, this last part of our trip is the creepiest. We walk through a forest for several minutes, and then through weeds taller than Orc. Plus, it's dark. If that ain't a scary movie scene, I don't know what is."

Even though they were trotting through the darkness as it was, the little bit of light Sam was making from his hands wouldn't be enough to make the fear of going into the forest go away. Howard was right; it did have a scary movie feel to it.

Just before they entered the forest, Sam halted. "Wait. I have an idea."

Howard was going to ask what his idea was, but Sam raised his palms and allowed the green fire to shoot out of them. He kept shooting the light and until the trees were almost all on fire. They began to burn, branches falling off here and there.

"What made you so mad, Sam?" Brianna questioned.

Sam turned to her, as well as the rest of the group. "I put a lot trees on fire. In a few minutes, the fire will spread and we'll have a lot more light when we go through the forest. That way, we won't have to be in the dark and I don't have to keep my palms lit up."

"Well, didn't you ever think, _genius_, that we need trees?" Howard demanded. "Don't they give us oxygen or something? And that's just gonna make the FAYZ look all the more uglier." He shook his head.

"Maybe you're right," Sam agreed. "But weren't you the one who was just talking about how we're gonna be in the dark and how it's gonna make everything feel creepy?"

"Mr. Hero here has a good point there, Howard," Orc pointed out.

"Anyway, let's rest a second," Sam said. "Just for a few minutes, though. I want to give the fire a second to spread."

The five of them sat where they were, facing the forest. Although the forest would look bad after the fire burned everything down, it was a nice sight at the moment. Maybe it was because it gave off a lot of light.

Orc, Brianna, Howard, and Sam were all sitting by each other, but Sam noticed that Caine was sitting a few feet behind them, still looking down. "Hey, I'm gonna go talk to Caine real quick," Sam whispered to Brianna. "I'll be right back."

Sam walked up to Caine and sat beside him. He slung his backpack over his shoulder and pulled out a water bottle, offering it to him. Caine took it and drank.

"What's on your mind, brother?" Sam asked.

Caine stared into the fire for a second before responding. "Cassandra. About halfway into Diana's pregnancy, everything started to change for me. The way I look at things. I'm so confused … I guess I'm having an identity crisis at age sixteen." He laughed at how ridiculous it was.

"Maybe you are, Caine," Sam suggested. "I mean, we've all noticed how you've changed. And, trust me, it's for the better." They both laughed. "It's for the better, though. I'm sure you don't want Cassandra to grow up, seeing you how you were in the past. That would set a bad example. But that's just my opinion."

"She was barely born and I already love her more than anything in the world," Caine admitted. "As soon as I saw Dahra hold her up in the air, I knew there was no way I could just leave her. But I did … all because I'm confused. I left Diana, I left Cassandra. If I hadn't, Cassandra wouldn't be gone. Diana would still have her. _It's all my fault._"

"Don't blame yourself," Sam said. "You didn't know. It's not your fault. It's Drake's. He's the evil bastard, the one who causes all of our troubles." He didn't get a response from Caine, so he zipped up his backpack and got to his feet. "Come on, man, let's get Cassandra back together. As the brothers we never were."

Caine took Sam's hand and stood up. Sam started to walk away, but Caine put his hand on his shoulder, stopping him. "Sam … I wanna apologize. For everything. I'll make up for it." They looked at each other for a moment. "Now, let's get my daughter back."

* * *

><p>Finding her feet, after all this time, Lisa whirled around and took off. "You're not God!" She felt something sharp strike the back of her legs and she fell to the ground. She got to her feet and saw Drake standing in front of her, smiling, his whip arm moving strangely.<p>

"I can give you great power, Lisa," the Gaiaphage told her through Penny. "You have potential. You're smart. I'm sure you'd know how to use whatever power I'd give you."

Lisa continued to back away. "If you're not going to cooperate, it won't be pretty," the Darkness warned. "Emily and her brother already told everybody what they knew. You know even more now. If necessary, Drake _will_ do what it takes to make you behave."

She tried to run again, but Drake hit her feet with his whip hand and she fell again. He wrapped it around her leg and tried pulling her closer to him. Desperate, Lisa searched for a rock that was very sharp.

_Here's one_. She grabbed the rock and stabbed the sharp point into his whip and he cried out, letting go. She stood again and saw Nerezza coming closer with intentions of helping Drake.

"All of you, go to hell!" Lisa shouted, turning away and climbing up the mine shafts slope.

As she ran away, her heart sunk when she heard Penny's voice laugh demonically and, taken over by the Darkness, say, "We're already here."

FEAR


	22. TWENTY-TWO

**TWENTY-TWO|**

40 Hours, 46 Minutes

**AT FIRST, **LISA thought she wouldn't make it more than a few steps away from them all. Her feet felt immobile. Yet, somehow, probably out of fear, she was able to get her legs moving. They were numb and, even with shoes, cold. Her legs felt unstable as a result of all the rocks beneath her feet and the high slope she would have to climb if she wanted to get out of the mine shaft.

Behind her, she heard Drake's voice telling everybody that he was going to handle it. She hoped she would get away. They were all evil. And so was the Gaiaphage, the Darkness—whatever it was. She felt bad for Turk. He was dumb and curious, but he most likely wasn't evil.

An incredibly sharp pain hit her back. She squinted her eyes and cursed under her breath. She knew in an instant what had happened; Drake Merwin had whipped her with that tentacle arm of his.

She felt warm blood trickle down her back from the gash. She cringed. Blood always grossed her out. Every time she got a cut, even if it was small, she would flip. Thankfully, she wouldn't see it.

"Quit running, Lisa!" Drake ordered. "We can't have you telling everybody that we took Diana and Caine's baby. So, quit!"

Not an ounce of hesitation crossed her mind; she would keep running as long as she could. She highly doubted that she would lose Drake any time soon. She was bleeding and, although she wasn't freezing, she was could enough that it slowed her down. Since it was about to be May pretty soon, she was convinced that it wasn't as cold as she thought; she was probably just terrified.

The moment she felt something wrap around her ankle, yanking, and making her trip, she knew it was the tentacle. She fell face first on the rocks and could taste blood from her busted lip.

Drake pulled her closer to him with that arm of his. "If you continue to be uncooperative, I'll have to knock you out so I can bring you back."

"Uh," Lisa groaned, feeling nauseous from her fall. She turned her body to face him. "I'll never cooperate with you, bastard!"

Drake smiled as if he had any good intentions. He pulled his whip arm back and let it fly through the air, slicing through the skin of her side. She squeezed her eyes together and more tears dripped out.

"What about now, Ms. Hardhead?"

"Fuck you," she spat. Even if he was going to kill her, at least she spat a mouth full of saliva and blood all over his face. That really pissed him off.

He frowned, then swung his whip arm again, this time a little bit harder. It cut her thigh and, just as she started to squeal, she felt the it come again, cutting the upper part of her arm. She opened her eyes slowly and saw Drake grinning, bringing his tentacle back again. She put her hands in front of her just as he lashed it out, immediately feeling blood bleed through the gashes on her hands.

Daring to open her eyes, Lisa saw how excited he was. How could he take pleasure in hurting her like this? She saw his right hand reach down and rub his groin. No, that was even worse. It was _sexual _pleasure. She forgot just how sadistic he was.

"No, please, no," Lisa cried. She was so scared, so fearful, she cried so hard her face turned bright red, all the blood rushing to it. "Please, don't rape me, please!"

"I won't rape you because you'll like it," Drake disagreed. "Has anyone been inside you before? If not, I'll go soft at first."

"Only one person, a few times," Lisa answered as an idea popped into her head. She knew how she was going to escape. It would give her maybe a few seconds, so she would have to make those few seconds count. It could make or break her.

Hoping she would time it just right and make it very believable, Lisa started her plan. She continued to cry, her tears still not as fake as what she was going to do. She watched Drake unbuckle his belt and slide his pants down, rubbing his groin over his underwear. "Who put it in you? It was Zil, wasn't it?"

"Y-y-yes," Lisa sobbed.

Drake leaned forward and placed his mouth on her neck, kissing her softly. It sent sensations through her body, but she dismissed them once she reminded herself who it was and what situation she was in.

"Mmm, that makes me wet," Lisa lied. She moved her right hand down his abs and stopped just before she reached his groin.

"Aren't you gonna rub it?" he questioned just as she brought her knee upward with all her might. She felt disgusted when her knee touched his hard, stiff male organ, but plenty satisfied when he shouted in pain, grabbing himself as he reeled backward.

Taking the opportunity, Lisa jumped to her feet and took off as fast as she could. She continued to cry, feeling guilty. She hoped God would show mercy on her.

_I wasn't always bad_, she thought as she ran.

* * *

><p><em>Although she maintained passing grades, Lisa wasn't too happy to be attending the Harriet Tubman Leadership Academy for Young Women. It was a somewhat prestigious all-girls school that served grades 6-12. It focused on math, science, and, obviously, leadership. It was 2007, the opening year for the school, and Lisa's father had wanted her to attend the brand-new school. He'd told her it was for her to get better education, but, more than that, Lisa knew it was because he didn't want her to go to school with boys anymore. She didn't blame him.<em>

_However, part of her had wanted to go to regular, public school. She had went to a public elementary school and none of her friends from there went to her school. To make matters worse, she'd most likely be stuck in this school the rest of her adolescent life. It served grades 6-9, and, since she was only two months into her sixth grade year, chances were pretty high._

_For today, though, school had just ended and she was waiting in the front for her stepmother to pick her up. Her father worked until five o'clock, so, ever since elementary, her stepmother would pick her up from school. She missed elementary, when school was only seven hours. Now the extra hour and minutes seemed so much more longer. To top it all off, Lisa's stepmother was late. Chloe was usually here a few minutes after school was over._

_Lisa pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and dialed Chloe's number. It wasn't a fancy phone or anything, just a way to keep contact with her family members and a few friends. The line rang and rang until the voicemail came on. She tried again with the same results. Shoving her phone into her pocket, she smiled to her friend, Carly, who was approaching her._

"_It's not too often that I see you after school," Carly said. "You're outta the door and on your way home by the time I get outta my desk."_

_Laughing, Lisa agreed. "I know. My step mom always picks me up. She's usually here a few minutes before school ends, that way we can be on our way before the cars start to pile up."_

"_Well, I'll keep you company until she gets here."_

"_Thanks," Lisa said, even though she knew Carly was just waiting to get picked up as well._

_Before they could say anymore, Lisa's phone rang. She pulled it out of her pocket and frowned when she saw "Dad" on the call ID. Why he calling her? He was supposed to be at work._

"_Hey, Dad," Lisa greeted. "Why aren't you working? And do you know where Chloe is? She hasn't picked me up yet."_

_For some reason, her father's tone was different. Almost blank. "I'm coming to pick you up from school. I'll be there in a few minutes."_

"_What? Why? What happened?"_

_Lisa could tell she had sounded worried because Carly was looking at her strangely. There was just silence on her father's end of the line and then he hung up. "Dad?"_

_Carly touched Lisa's shoulder. "What happened? Why isn't your dad at work? Are you okay?"_

"_I don't know," Lisa mumbled. "My dad told me he was going to be here in a few minutes to pick me up. He sounded weird. Then he hung up."_

_Carly tried to think of a reason that didn't sound bad. "Maybe he took the rest of the day off or something. Or he could have taken vacation or something. Ask him when he gets here."_

_Both of them sat down on the stones in front of the school and waited for their parents. Carly usually waited a while before she was picked up, but it was something very different for Lisa. Not only was she waiting for somebody to pick her up, but she couldn't stop wondering why her dad had sounded like that._

_After a while, she saw her dad pull up in their car. She gave Carly a hug and thanked her, then rushed over to the car. She climbed inside, sat down, and buckled her seatbelt, turning over to look at her dismayed father. "So, what happened, Dad?"_

"_Chloe's dead."_

* * *

><p>They all walked through the forest together. Sam, Caine, Brianna, Howard, and Orc. For the Breeze, their pace was achingly slow. But Sam had told her it was crucial that they stay with one another. As much as she didn't like it, she knew it was the safest way to go about things.<p>

It was amazing, really. The sight of the forest. All of the trees were on fire. It was all around them but didn't do any harm. It was surreal. At first, Brianna thought it was stupid of Sam to light all the trees, but now she was certain that he did it because he wanted to see this unique sight.

"We're only a few minutes away from the mine shaft," Sam said. "Be prepared for anything. My guess is they have somebody guarding the shaft. It could be Drake or it could be Penny."

"You got it, boss," Howard said.

As they walked through the forest, it got dimmer. The fire still lit the trees, but not as much as the trees at the beginning of the forest.

Orc looked more than happy to finally be close to the mine shaft. "Don't worry, I'll beat the punk up for taking your kid, Caine," Orc promised, slapping him gently on the shoulder.

"We'll take turns whooping his ass," Sam concluded, taking pleasure to the thought. It _was _a joke, but he was pretty sure it was going to happen like that. They all hated Drake, each one of them with different reasons. Except Howard, maybe. Drake hadn't really done anything real bad to Howard, but Sam was pretty sure there was _something _he did that pissed Howard off.

It was maybe another ten minutes before they reached the end of the forest and the beginning of the weeds. The weeds were tall, at least seven feet in height. The light from the fire in the forest shone on the weeds, giving off a small amount of light. By the time they got to the mine shaft, they would be in complete darkness again.

Sam felt the fear start to kick in. He was about to be in complete darkness, descending into a mine shaft where the Gaiaphage, Drake, Penny, Turk, and Lisa were. Facing Drake had been his previous nightmare, but this was way worse. He hoped they would get the best of them. Five against five, it seemed like a fair battle.

Only, Sam wasn't sure they would win in a fair battle.

* * *

><p><em>Lisa stared out the window of the school bus, her head against it, thinking. Her life had changed for the worse. Ever since her stepmother died, things hadn't been the same. Chloe had been in a bad car accident on the way to pick Lisa up from school. Lisa had broke down crying when her dad told her and he did the same shortly after, once they had gotten home. That was the worst day of her life. A month later, she still hadn't got over it.<em>

_She had started taking the school bus home because she didn't have a ride anymore. That was when Chloe and her had bonded most; when she would pick her up from school and when they picked up her Dad from work._

_Snapping out of it, Lisa stood up and exited the bus when it left her at her stop. It was just across the street from her house, so all she did to get there was look to her left and to her right for any cars. She crossed the street and walked across her lawn, slowly walking up the front steps of her home._

_Usually, there was a key under the mat for her to open the front door with once she arrived to her home. But, lately, that wasn't needed since her father had only been going to work half the time. She tried the door. Sure enough, it opened. He was home again._

_Lisa's household income was above the poor line, she assumed. There wasn't ever times when bills wouldn't get paid. But she had started to worry. If her dad wasn't going to work as much as he should, how were bills going to get paid? So, it wasn't that she didn't want her father to be home, it was just that she was certain he needed to make money if they were going to pay bills._

"_Didn't go to work today, Dad?" Lisa inquired._

"_No, sweety," he slurred. _

_At that, Lisa shot a glance in his direction. She wasn't too surprised to see him with a Budweiser in his cup holder; he had been drinking a lot more. She watched as he crushed the beer can as small as it would get and threw it at the trash can he set up in the corner of the living room for that very purpose; throwing beers into it. Almost every time, he would miss, hence his drinking._

_Normally, Lisa would just pick up the cans. But, today hadn't been her day and she wasn't in the mood to be picking up after people. Especially grown people._

"_Why don't you quit drinking, Dad?" Lisa demanded angrily. "You're becoming a drunk. This is _not _like you!"_

_For a moment, he looked up at her guiltily. Then, he lowered his head, looking at his shoes like he expected them to fly off his feet and do some amazing magic trick._

"_Don't worry about what the hell I do, Lisa," he warned. "If I wanna drink in my house, I'll drink in my house. I pay the bills, you don't. I work, you don't. We're alive because of me. Get that through your head."_

_Lisa was almost speechless. Her father had never spoken to her like that, even when she would talk back to him. "Fine, then, I guess I'll just fine someone else to live with!" she threatened._

"_You don't have to," he said. "You already have a place to stay. You're moving in with your mom."_

* * *

><p>Chances were, only a minute or two had passed, but, to Lisa, they felt like hours. She could feel blood all over her skin and it made her cringe every time she thought about it. To add onto that, the rough rocks and gravel beneath her feet made them hurt. She felt like it would never end. The pain, the fear.<p>

"When I get you, you're dead, you little bitch," Drake shouted from behind her. She had gotten an ahead start, but he was catching up to her with every passing second.

Before she knew it, she was surprised to realize she had just exited the mine shaft. Even outside, everything was completely dark. Maybe those seconds really were hours. But how could they be? How could it have taken so many hours for all that to happen? It was about noon when she went inside, so didn't that mean at least eight hours had passed since then?

With only a seconds hesitation, Lisa started running to the left of the mine shaft. There was a large amount of light visible there, what seemed to be fire. Most people wouldn't run towards a secluded, burning forest, but at least the flames would give her a sense of direction.

Her run had slowed to a jog and her leg muscles ached, like they were the ones on fire, but Lisa still pushed herself to keep going. Picking her head up drowsily, she saw five figures approaching, not too far away. "Help!" she yelled as loud as she could.

Confused, her vision blurred and she went down.

* * *

><p>Just a few months ago, I was starting my first day of Middle School, now I'm doing it all over again, <em>Lisa thought to herself as she walked onto the Perdido Beach School campus. Her father wasn't lying; he really did go send her to live with her mother.<em>

_It wasn't that Lisa didn't like her mother, as much as that she didn't know her. She had been absent all throughout Lisa's life. Lisa's father often told her that her Mom had did him awfully wrong and that was why they separated. Supposedly, they had a custody problem, but her dad won, so that was why Lisa stayed with him._

_What made Lisa really ticked was that the first time she saw her mom, she acted like she never did anything in the wrong. Lisa never had a mom, so she wanted an explanation as to why her mother suddenly had interest in her life. However, Lisa didn't voice that out. She didn't want to look like an emotional brat._

_Her mom lived in a little town called Perdido Beach, in California, far from where her father lived. The population couldn't be anymore than two or three thousand, which made everywhere pretty easy to go, so she supposed it wasn't all bad. Plus, she could walk to school, since it was just down the street from her moms house._

_But even with all of that, one thing remained the same; she was horrible at making new friends. It took her a while to adjust, but, once she did, it was quickly, and she could easily be herself around her peers._

_Taking a deep breath,, Lisa opened the entrance doors to Perdido Beach School. The halls weren't half as crowded as her old school had been. That was good and bad; good because it would be much easier to class; bad because she could already see people looking at her as she walked by them, trying to find the front office so she could get her schedule and get familiar with the school. It was probably pretty easy to tell when there was a new girl. How could it not be? There was probably only three hundred people attending this school._

_Looking left and right for signs of the main office, Lisa felt something solid block her from continuing to walk. At first, she became red, completely embarrassed, thinking that she ran into a door or something, but she stepped back and saw it was a boy._

"_Oh, I'm so sorry, I wasn't paying attention to where I'm going," Lisa apologized. At first glance, he was just an ordinary boy, but as she looked into his eyes, she saw how cute he was. She wasn't really into guys, her taste was different from a lot of other girls, but she had to admit, she was attracted to this guy._

"_You looking for something?" he asked._

"_Uh, the office," she responded quickly. "Do you know where it's at? I need to get my schedule before school starts."_

_The boy turned his body, gesturing behind him with his left arm. "Continue to the end of this hall and take a right. It'll be on your left." Just as she was about to take off, he stopped her. "I can walk you, if you want."_

"_That would be nice," Lisa said. They walked a few steps and she decided she needed to introduce herself. "My guess is you know I'm new here, right? Well, my name's Lisa. Nice to meet you."_

_He smiled. "Nice to meet you, too. I'm Zil."_

* * *

><p>They were only a minute or two away from the mine shaft. They had just exited the weeds when Sam saw a girl running toward them tiredly.<p>

"Help!" she screamed, but fell down only a second later. She hadn't tripped or anything; from the looks of it, she fell out of pure exhaustion.

Sam knelt down to her body. He squinted his eyes in the darkness. It was Lisa, someone he hadn't seen in a very long time. He'd only spoken to her one time, maybe, in his entire life.

"What's wrong?" he asked, checking her pulse. It was there, but after he looked at her for a second, he guessed it wouldn't be for much longer; she had long cuts all over her body, which were bleeding profusely. "Who did this?" He put his hands on her thigh to stop the bleeding.

"It had to be Drake," Caine muttered.

"Probably," Sam agreed. "But, Brianna, I'm gonna need you to bring her back to Perdido Beach. Quick."

Brianna looked at Sam, then towards the mine shaft, then back at Sam. "I … I wanna fight Drake."

Sam shook his head. "Brianna, you _have _to get her to Lana, or else she's gonna die from massive blood loss. Do you _really _want that to be on your conscious?"

"Fine," Brianna muttered. "Don't beat his ass too bad without me." She winked at him, then grabbed Lisa by her wrist and flung her onto her shoulders. She started to move her legs quickly, entering the weeds. _Hopefully, I can get back before the showdown. I really wanna get mines in and—_

Her thoughts were interrupted as she felt something thick and slimy wrapping around her ankle.

* * *

><p>"<em>What the hell is wrong with you, Lisa?"<em>

_Lisa was laying on the couch, her mother standing over her. "What'd I do?"_

_Her mother raised her voice slightly. "What did you do? Oh, nothing, Lisa. It's not a problem that you come home in A.M. for the third night in a row, drunk, with a beer in your hand, and with the scent of weed on your clothes!"_

"_Calm down," Lisa groaned. "I'm already in seventh grade. I've been living with you for a year already and now, all of a sudden, you're on my case about everything. Just chill out."_

"_I'm on your case because I want you to do right. You know that, Lisa. You're not a bad girl, I know you're not. But you these, these _episodes _every now and then where you do crazy, bad things. And, for some reason, you've been having them a lot more often lately. Why, Lisa?"_

_She slurred, "Because I can."_

"_It's that boy, isn't it?"_

"_I got with Zil only a month after I moved in with you," Lisa defended. "If it was him, why are you barely bringing it up now?"_

_Her mom shook her head. "I'm calling the police. I'm tired of this. Trust me, it's for your own good."_

_Lisa got to her feet and snatched the phone out of her mom's hands. "What are you gonna tell them? I didn't do anything."_

"_You consumed alcohol and probably smoked weed," her mother explained. "You're a minor. You're not allowed to do that. It's against the law. And I'm _not _going to let my daughter be a criminal!"_

"You're _daughter?" Lisa demanded. "I'm not _your _daughter! You were never in my life until a year ago! You don't care about me! Screw you!"_

_Tears filled her mom's eyes. "How dare you say that? You don't understand, do you? I became hooked on drugs when you were a baby, Lisa. Your father gained full custody of you because of that. But, now, now I'm better. I just want to make up for all that time I wasn't in your life, baby. I'm sorry. I love you."_

_Feeling a mix of anger and heartbreak at those words, Lisa sent the phone flying at her mothers face. "Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP! You're just a liar, so stay the fuck out of my life, you stupid bitch!"_

_As she turned around and made her way to her room clumsily, Lisa could hear her mother crying heavily, out of emotional pain, instead of physical pain._

_Tears fell out of Lisa's eyes, too, as she collapsed on her bed tiredly. She was so lost. She didn't understand anything in this world, especially herself._

* * *

><p>Lisa's eyes flew open at a falling sensation. At first, she thought that it was just a reaction to the bad memory of what she did to her mom the last time she saw her, but when she hit the cold, hard ground, she knew it was real.<p>

The realization was a let-down. The moment she felt her blood all over her body, the moment she recalled everything that had happened in the mine shaft, she wanted to cry. Her situation was horrible.

Squinting her eyes, Lisa saw a girl lying on the floor, facedown. The girl slowly got to her feet after a moment, and walked toward her.

"What—what happened?" She paused, squinting as hard as she could. "Brianna, right?"

"Yeah," Brianna answered. "I was carrying you back to Perdido Beach so Lana could heal you. You're bleeding really bad. Sam told me to, or that you'd die from massive blood loss."

"Oh," Lisa managed to say through the pain. "Well, before we go, why is it dark? I could swear that it was just me thinking a lot of time had passed. And why are we both on the floor?"

Brianna dusted herself off. "We don't know why, but the entire FAYZ went dark all of a sudden. It was around noon, bright as could be, then complete darkness. We were on the floor because I was running with you over my shoulders and I guess I tripped. My fault. Now let's get you to Lana."

Lisa outstretched her hand to meet Brianna's, but gasped when she saw a tentacle wrap around Brianna's throat and jerk backward. Even though it was dark, Lisa could see the bright redness in Brianna's face from suffocation. She knew right away, it was Drake.

Wheezing hard, Brianna struggled against the thick, purplish tentacle, trying to pry it off her throat, but was unsuccessful. She choked harder for a moment and then was silent.

Frozen out of fear, Lisa hadn't made a peep. But, realizing that Drake had just choked out Brianna and now had his attention on her, she let out a loud scream.

Without any hesitation, Drake lashed his tentacle arm out at Lisa. She felt even more warm blood, but this time he had cut her on her left cheek. She screamed again, this time at the pain.

"Shut up now or you die," Drake threatened. "They'll hear you."

All of Drake's threats, Lisa knew they were serious, but, still, she had ran away from him. But she realized that there was no running anymore. She realized that, if she did try to run, it would be useless. Worst of all, she realized that, this time, Drake was going to kill her.

* * *

><p><em>The sunlight made Lisa squint her eyes when she woke. It shone through her bedroom window brightly. It also caused pain to run all through her head. That reminded her of the beer she had in her hand from the previous night. It reminded her of when she cussed at her mom. It reminded her of when she threw a phone at her moms face. It reminded her of everything that had happened the night before.<em>

_Every now and then, Lisa would get high or have a drink or two, but nothing like she had been the past few days. She had been really depressed lately, thinking all about how her mother had barely came into her life and how her father did the opposite. She hadn't seen or heard of him for a year, ever since she came to Perdido Beach to live with her mom._

_Even though she had only known her mother for a year, Lisa really did love her and immediately felt guilty and stupid for her actions of the previous night. She pushed the blankets off of her and left her room, heading down the main hall. She needed to find her mother. She knew she needed to apologize because she really did love her mom with all her heart._

"_Mom?" Lisa called._

_Her mom was asleep on the couch. She would apologize later, since her mother was asleep and she was already late to school. She leaned in to give her mom a kiss, at least, but, before her lips touched her mom's forehead, she was gone. There, then gone. In the blink of an eye._

_At first, Lisa thought here brain was playing tricks on her, but she realized that her mom really had just disappeared in front of her eyes. She broke down in tears, thinking about the last words she told her mother._

"Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP! You're just a liar, so stay the fuck out of my life, you stupid bitch!"

"_No, Mom, please, I'm sorry, I love you, please, come back," Lisa begged to the air, tears pouring out of her eyes. It tugged at her heart even more when she thought about her mom's last words to her._

"I just want to make up for all that time I wasn't in your life, baby. I'm sorry. I love you."

_The only thing Lisa could think to do was pray. "Please, bring her back, Lord. Please, I'm sorry for everything. I'm not a bad person." She cried harder, then whispered again, "I'm not a bad person."_

* * *

><p>This time, Lisa knew she couldn't get away. She could hardly feel her legs and there was pain all over. More than pain, fear. One thing Lisa feared more than anything was death. It was a secret, but it was not by any means false.<p>

Drake laughed. "It's time you die, little Lisa." He wrapped his tentacle arm around her neck, just like he had done Brianna, and squeezed.

In an instant, Lisa could feel her veins pulse hard, her throat searching for oxygen. He squeezed harder and Lisa felt tears spill rapidly out of her eyes. As her head suddenly started to feel extremely light and dizzy, she put her hands together and prayed one last time.

"Please, let me into heaven, Lord. Please, I'm not a bad person." Her words barely came out at a whisper, but, before everything went completely black, she managed to get five more out.

"I'm not a bad person."

* * *

><p><strong><span>Author's Note: <span>So this is the chapter I decided to introduce the flashbacks in. For most chapters, from now on, I'm going to include flashbacks of the characters lives to let you know a bit more about them. Please, comment and let me know what you think. Should the flashbacks be in italics? Is it hard to read that way? And how would you prefer the flashbacks to be? Here are the two ways I'm considering: for every chapter, a characters past will be learned. Or, if you like shorter chapters, a characters flashback will be learned over the course of a few chapters, most likely two or three. Please, comment and let me know! Thank you for reading!**

FEAR


	23. TWENTY-THREE

**OUTSIDE|**

**THE KNOCKING** ON his front door startled Darius Ashton. Each knock was loud, so loud that it made him jolt out of his sleep. He jumped out of bed promptly, throwing some clothes on. He looked at the clock. It was six o clock in the morning. Who the hell was at his door at six in the morning?

Slipping his boots on, Darius made his way to the front door. He didn't turn the living room light on, in case it was someone meaning to do him harm. Looking through his peephole, he saw that he was probably right; two men dressed in all black were banging clenched on the door. One was a tall, bald, black man, the other a white, hollow-cheeked, blond man.

"Open up, Mr. Ashton," the white man ordered. "We know you're in there. Your car's in the driveway. We'll give you thirty seconds to open the door."

"Or else we'll break it down for you," the black man added. His voice was deeper and more menacing.

Hastily, Darius went back to his room, shut the door softly, and turned the lock. He dug through his closet until he felt the steel handgun he kept hidden. Tucking the handgun in his belt, he went to the bedroom window, opening it.

As he opened the window, he could hear a loud banging and he knew that they hadn't lied about breaking the door down. He stepped out of the window and carefully let himself fall to the ground, just as he heard a crash, which was probably the door caving in.

Darius went around the side of his house until he reached his sedan. He shoved the car keys into the lock, threw the door open, and climbed inside. He started the car, throwing it in reverse, turning the wheel, getting the hell away from that house.

Both agents were no strangers to Darius; the black man was Tyson and the white man was Boyle. They both didn't like Darius because he would always make fun of them kissing ass.

Karma was definitely being a bitch. He had no doubt that Boyle and Tyson were sent to terminate him for telling Connie about the government calling the Nuclear Emergency Support Team.

In his eyes, Darius was obligated to tell Connie; after all, that _was _his girlfriend of over a year, who _did _have a kid stuck in that damn dome.

As a matter of fact, he was on his way to see her right now. If they couldn't find him, he wouldn't be surprised if she was their next target.

* * *

><p><em>Connie Temple screamed relief as she gave her last push. The doctors happily informed her that both of her babies had now been born. Her boyfriend, Taegan Smith was holding their first baby that came out, but handed Connie him, so he could grab the second.<em>

"_Which one is Sam and which one is David?" Taegan inquired. They picked those names early in Constance's pregnancy, but it was up to her which would be which, since she was the one who had given birth. That was their deal._

"_You're holding David," she explained. "And I'm holding Sam."_

* * *

><p>"Why are you here so early, Darius?" Constance Temple queried. Her boyfriend of over a year, Darius Lee Ashton was at her door, looking more worried than she'd ever seen him. She stepped aside, letting him in, then locking the door to be safe.<p>

"Pack some stuff," Darius directed. "At least two nights worth. Bring your toothbrush, deodorant, whatever you will need for at least two days. Try to make it quick."

Connie stared at him for a long moment, looking at him as if he were crazy. "Why would I do that? Is there something wrong?"

Rubbing his forehead in frustration, Darius said, "Yes, there is something wrong, baby. We _need _to leave your house in the next minute or two. Get some stuff. Not a lot. We'll come back soon. We just have to get away for now."

Nodding agreement, Connie went to her room to grab a few things. She spoke loudly so Darius could hear her in the other room. "Why do we have to leave? Are you going to tell me the reason?"

"Of course, love," Darius said. "I'll tell you once we get in my car. When we're on the road."

There weren't any more questions from Constance, thankfully. She quickly got a few things, placed them in a Nike backpack, zipped it up, then told him she was ready to go. The two of them walked to his car in a rush. He made sure she was buckled in safely, then got in himself. He hit reverse, then sped down the street.

Darius waited only a few seconds to explain. "Okay, so do you remember how I told you what the government had planned?" She nodded. "Well, I guess they found out, which doesn't surprise me at all. This morning, I was asleep and I heard loud banging on my front door. When I looked out the peephole, two of my fellow agents were standing outside, demanding I open up. There's no doubt in my mind they were there to kill me."

Connie didn't respond at first, letting it sink in. She really liked Darius and couldn't help but feel guilty for the entire situation. If he hadn't cared for her enough to tell her, this wouldn't be happening.

"So, why did you come pick me up?"

"They'll take you, kidnap you, tell me that if I want you to be unharmed, I have to turn myself in."

Connie was confused. "Turn yourself in for what? You didn't do anything. All you did was tell me what their plans were. Please, don't tell me government is involved in some giant conspiracy, like in the movies."

Darius said, "The government does whatever the hell they want. If they want something to be kept secret, they will eliminate anybody who is trying to spread that secret. If word gets out that they're trying to keep almost four hundred kids trapped inside a dangerous barrier, it'll make them look bad."

"What else are you gonna tell me?" Connie asked. "That the Illuminati really is real and they know all about how the world is going to end on December twenty-first, two and a half years from now?"

Darius laughed. "The world probably won't end anytime soon. I work for the FBI, they don't involve us in that Illuminati bullshit, but I'd bet a million bucks that Illuminati does exist."

Instead of joking, Connie was going to talk seriously now. She couldn't laugh at him, he worked for the FBI and she didn't, so he probably knew way more than she did about all of that. "So, why would you tell me that, if you knew you would get in so much trouble for it? I mean, I appreciate it, but it's pretty stupid of you to do that, Darius."

"I did it for you," Darius whispered. Then, at a volume where she could here him clearly, "Who have you told?"

Connie looked at him guiltily. "I told Abana."

"Has _she _told anybody?"

"Well, she tweeted about it last night. But, a lot of people didn't believe her."

Darius tilted his head back, frustrated. "Damn it. Call her. Now. Tell her to grab clothes and whatever else she's going to need for at least two days. Tell her to come outside as soon as possible. We're just down the street from her house, so tell her she needs to hurry. We have to get out of the area ASAP."

As Connie dialed Abana's number, Darius wondered how long he could run. He wasn't born to run, he was born to fight. But even he wasn't stupid enough to pick a fight with the FBI.

* * *

><p>Why am I here? <em>Connie thought. For some reason, she was at the power plant of Perdido Beach, where her husband, Taegan worked, in the room where the cameras were monitored to make sure nobody trespassed or was doing anything they weren't supposed to be doing.<em>

_Although she had never been here before, she somehow knew where she was. But she was still confused. Why was she here? Even if she did come to the power plant, wouldn't Taegan be with her? After all, he worked here and she didn't. And what about Sam? Her two-month old baby boy? For some reason, only David was in the room with her._

Wait, what? _Connie asked herself. Was that really David? It couldn't be. David was only two months old, just like his twin brother, Sam, yet here he was, sitting in the chair, staring at the monitors. This boy that, for some reason, Connie thought was David, had to be at least five years old._

"_David, why are we here? And why are you looking at the monitors? I don't think we're supposed to be in here." She tried to grab him gently by his arms and tell him to come with her home, but he resisted. "What is it, David?"_

"_Mommy, we can't leave now. It's too late."_

_Connie didn't understand. "Too late for what?"_

"_It's too late to get away," David said softly. "We're going to die in a minute anyway. I want us to spend our last minute together, mommy."_

"_What? What are you talking about?" Connie demanded. She got down on one knee to look him in the eye. "I will never let you die, baby. I promise."_

_David shook his head, but wrapped his little arms around her. "Daddy died." He let go of her, then walked over to the window, looking out at the dark sky._

"_Daddy died?" Connie panicked. "What do you mean, sweety?"_

"_It killed him," David whispered._

_This was giving Connie the chills. Her mind raced as she tried to think of what to ask next. She was confused, lost, hurt at the fact that David thought Taegan died. "Nothing killed daddy, sweetheart. What made you think that?"_

_David looked at her, amused, but then looked outside the window again after a second. "I don't think. I know." He paused, then raised his index finger, pointing out the window. "That killed him."_

_A red, fiery circle, flames blazing like crazy fell from the sky, in their direction. It was some sort of meteor. She squeezed her eyes close, waiting to die, but the opposite happened; she opened them._

_Connie sat up in bed, dazed. It was all just a dream. But it scared the living hell out of her. She looked at her husband, who was sound asleep, just like her two-month old sons, trying to figure out why she would dream of David saying that._

_His little voice was stuck in her head, repeating, "Daddy died."_

* * *

><p>After picking up Abana Baidoo, the three of them headed to a hotel on the outskirts of the city. They found a hotel room for three, then went to their room right away. They all laid in the master bedroom, which had two beds; both were king-sized. Abana lied on one bed, Darius and Connie on the other.<p>

"You locked the doors, right?" Abana asked. "I don't want those FBI enemies of yours to come kicking it in and shooting us up."

"They won't," Darius said. "For now." He smiled when Abana glared at him. "No, but, being serious, they should not be able to track us."

Abana asked, "How do you know they don't have chips in our brains that tells them where we're at all the time?"

"Because I think they only do that in cheesy movies," Darius responded. "Being serious again: we all ditched our cell phones, right? They might be able to track my car, but not for another day. We'll be out of here by then."

Abana frowned. "So we're just going to run from the FBI our entire lives? Plus, you made me throw my cell phone away, so we don't have contact with anyone. This is going to _real _fun."

"You tweeted about it," Darius said. "They could of tracked that phone, so, unless you want to get caught, maybe you should thank me."

"No, I'm thankful, believe me," Abana assured. "I just want to know why you told us to get the things we needed for two days. What's gonna happen in two days?"

Darius looked smiled at Abana, then at Connie. "In two days, we're going to stop them from nuking the dome."

* * *

><p><em>From the inside out, it ate at her. Connie felt like the most terrible mother to ever exist. Here she was, sitting across a table from a couple, about to sign adoption papers, giving away one of her baby boys, David.<em>

_No matter how she looked at it, she was just convinced that giving him away was the only option. The dream she had about David telling her "Daddy died" came true; while at work, a meteorite hit the power plant and killed everybody there, including Taegan._

_For days, Connie was an emotional wreck. She couldn't understand her dream. And, it wasn't just one either; she'd had a few strange dreams about David, that particular one was just what stuck out the most._

_At first, she didn't know what to do. Of course, she loved David, just as much as she loved Sam, but she couldn't keep him. She just couldn't. She didn't want him growing up feeling like he was the one to blame for Taegan's death. Mainly, because she felt like she was the only one to blame and it wouldn't be fair for others to share that blame._

"_So that's him?" the lady asked, pointing at David, who Connie was holding in her arms. She finished signing her share of the papers, now the lady's husband just needed to finish the last few blanks on the papers, then the thirty-year old couple would take David forever._

"_Yes, this is him," Connie answered._

"_I don't wanna get into your business or anything, but are you giving your other son away as well? If so, we'd be happy to take him. Twins would just be the cutest thing."_

_Connie shook her head. "No, I'm keeping Sam. I don't want to give David away, but I have no option; their father died a week ago, so I can only take care of one financially. Plus, I'm barely eighteen, so I'll start having to work soon. I just don't think I could handle to. How responsible of me to get pregnant at seventeen, huh?"_

"_It's not irresponsible, darling. Accidents happen. And, sometimes, those accidents turn into gifts, just like David did to me and my husband."_

_Connie half-smiled. "That's sweet of you to say, Ms. Whitley."_

"_Okay, I finished the paper work," Mr. Whitley said, handing it over to the social worker in charge of their adoption case._

_Feeling heartbroken, Connie gave David's little body a squeeze. She kissed his forehead. "Listen to me, David. I love you, baby. I love you with all my heart. This are your new parents now, okay? I—I'm sorry." She got choked up as she handed David over to Mr. and Mrs. Whitley. They took hold of him carefully and the sight of David being held by another family made tears roll down her eyes._

"_Thank you for giving us this opportunity," Mr. Whitley said. "You have no idea how much this means to us."_

_Mrs. Whitley handed David over to him, then touched Connie on her shoulder. "I know you feel sad, but I also know that you did this because you thought this was what is best for him. A mother knows best, right?"_

"_I suppose so," Connie whispered._

_Smiling, Mrs. Whitley hugged Connie tightly, then left the room with her husband and David._

_It was silent for a moment. Connie and the social worker were the only two in the room. He smiled at Connie. "It's time to leave the room, Ms. Temple. I have another meeting scheduled in fifteen minutes."_

"_Right, okay," Connie mumbled. She got out of her chair and walked out of the room, feeling weak, physically and emotionally._

"_Wait," she heard the social worker call when she was halfway down the hall. He jogged to catch up to her. "You didn't let me ask you if I could walk you to your car."_

"_Sure, that'd be okay."_

"_I don't want to come off as I'm trying to hit on you," he said. "But I tend to feel really bad for single mothers like yourself who are just trying to make it. Not to offend you."_

_Connie said, "No, that's fine. I don't take offense. Thanks for the offer, though. Even if it's just a friendly gesture, at least you care."_

_The social worker smiled. "Yeah, it can go a long ways. I just wanted to tell you that you and all the other mothers who give their children up for adoption aren't wrong. You are doing what you feel is best."_

"_Yeah, I know." Connie sighed. They were at the car now. She had been lucky to get a parking spot right in front of the entrance doors of the building. "Well, this is my car. Have a good day, sir."_

"_Have one yourself, too," he said. He smiled, waved, then turned around and went back inside the adoption agency building._

_Sluggishly opening the car door, Connie got inside and put the keys in the ignition. She put her head on the steering wheel and burst into tears. She didn't like crying in front of people, so she had to hold it all the way until she could be alone._

_As tears rolled from her eyes, she sobbed, wondering why this was happening to her._

_The pain tugged at her heart fiercely. She couldn't stop crying, everything just seemed so painful. She'd lost her baby's father and had just gave away one of her sons. All because she was hurt, confused, and lost._

_Pounding her fist on the steering wheel, Connie let out all of her pain, anger, and fear._

* * *

><p>Abana fell asleep, but Darius and Connie were still up, talking about what might happen in the next forty-eight hours, probably even less than that. They were lying on a separate bed from Abana, cuddled up.<p>

Leaning over just a little, still lying down, Connie kissed Darius softly on the lips. "Thank you for all you've done, Darius. I—I love you. I don't tell you often, but, trust me, I do."

"I love you, too, babe," he said, kissing her back.

He slid his warm tongue into her mouth and they began kissing more passionately. He wrapped his palms around her wrist, pushing them back, sliding his legs in between hers. He reached down to unbutton her pants, but she stopped him. "No, stop."

Darius got off of her, sitting up in the bed. "Why? Connie, it's been over a year since we got together and we've never had sex. Not once. We haven't even felt each other through pants. Right now, we were about to, but every time, you stop. I don't want to sound like I'm pressuring you, but I just wanna know why, babe. What's wrong?"

"Abana's in the room."

"Okay, but what about all the other times?" Darius questioned. "Just tell me. I want to know. I love you enough to due without sex, but I just want to know."

Connie looked down as she explained. "Every time I fall in love, Darius, it ends badly. My first boyfriend, his name was Taegan. I got with him when I was twelve. He's the one that I had my kids by. It was an accident. I was seventeen, about to be eighteen in a few days. I only made love _once _yet I still got pregnant. After I had the kids, I told myself, well, maybe we'll get to make love after a few months. But, before we could, he died. My second relationship, I was with this guy named Tom. We had sex a few times a week, but it was just sex. Not love. I felt trapped in that relationship. He was so controlling. That was a little bit before this damn barrier came down. But my son, Sam, made him leave. I'm _thirty-four _years old, Darius, and I'm in my third relationship. And I _really_ do love you, but I just can't lose you, too."

Darius grabbed her chin softly and looked her in the eye. "Baby, you'll never lose me. We're going to make it through this. All of this."

"I hope so."

"And, one more question, if you don't mind," Darius said. "What did you mean, your son made him leave?"

Connie didn't answer for a moment. "He kind of, like, shot fire from his hands at my ex-husband because he thought he was going to hurt me."

"Shot fire from his hands? Nevermind, then."

"Darius, I'm being serious. Months before that barrier came down, it happened. I used to be a nurse for the Perdido Beach School and, one time, I overheard this one kid talking about his cool news powers. They thought I wasn't listening, but, when I looked, I saw him raising his hands, and a stapler was in the middle of the air, moving the way his hands moved. The two kids were saying that they couldn't let anybody know and that they were superior over the other kids."

When Darius saw that Connie was being serious, it took him a moment to take in. "Holy shit. What's his name? Maybe we can find out something about him."

"His name is Caine Soren," Connie responded. "And he's my son. It used to be David Temple. Not anymore."

"Hold on, _what_? You have _two _kids in there? Why didn't you tell me that, Connie?"

"Because he's not really my son anymore … I gave him up for adoption." She felt tears coming on and when she continued, her voice broke several times. "I've been wanting to tell you, to tell _someone_, but I know you'd think I'm a bad person. It's just that I couldn't keep him, I really couldn't!"

"Why not?"

"He was special, Darius," Connie explained. "I used to have these dreams about him. He would ask me if he really was special. Other times, people would come to me in my dreams to tell me he was special."

"Special how?"

"I don't know," she admitted. "But, there was this one dream I had where he was saying Taegan was going to die and then a few days later, Taegan died."

"But you didn't give up Sam? You gave up Caine or David, whatever you wanna call him?"

"Yes. And call him Caine. That's his name now."

"Why Caine and not Sam?"

Connie turned to look Darius in the eye. As much as she hated it, the answer to this question was completely true. "Because Caine is special and Sam isn't."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: This chapter took place outside of the FAYZ barrier—or did it?—at about the same time Diana's baby was taken from her. Please, review and let me know what you think!<strong>

FEAR


	24. TWENTY-FOUR

**TWENTY-FOUR|**

40 Hours, 33 Minutes

"**OKAY, **WE AREN'T going to wait any longer," Penny said. No, not Penny, but rather the dark presence known as the Gaiaphage, which had taken over her mind, her body. "They're coming to take Cassandra. Sam, Caine, Charles, and Howard. Drake killed Lisa, and has Brianna. We can only hope he'll use this to his advantage."

Turk was still intrigued, but this astonished him. "How do you know all of that happened?"

The Darkness answered, "Oh, you don't know yet, do you? I know everything that happens in the FAYZ. I'm the eyes and ears of this place. This is _my _world."

As Turk gazed back, amazed, Nerezza laughed. "Can you believe that? Caine is with the Good Guy Squad now. What a fake punk."

"Caine is indeed a traitor," the Darkness agreed. "He's been convinced by my Nemesis."

"So, who's this Nemesis guy?" Nerezza inquired. "Why don't you just kill him? And why don't you ever tell me anything about him?"

"Enough questions," the Darkness said. "Now, here's what you're going to do; leave Cassandra here. I'll begin to speed up her growth process while you two are fulfilling your tasks."

Turk asked, "You can age people?"

The Gaiaphage nodded. "As long as somebody is close enough to me, I have complete control over them. Now, here's what you two are going to do."

* * *

><p><em>Howard Bassem was on his way to third period, when he felt somebody grab his sweater. At first, he thought it was nothing. The school wasn't too big, neither was the student population, so the halls weren't crowded, but every now and then somebody would bump into someone else.<em>

_The tug—what he thought just someone bumping into him—somehow resulted into his hoodie covering his face, so he wasn't able to see._

"_Hey!" he hollered, trying to pull his hood down._

_When he finally did a few seconds later, he was in the boys restroom. A kid, at least a year older than himself, was standing in front of him._

"_Give me whatever money you got," the kid demanded. "Make it quick, I don't wanna be late to class."_

_It took only a second for Howard to register what had happened; while on his way, this kid grabbed him by his hoodie with enough force to push him a few steps sideways into the boys restroom, planning on getting some money._

"_No. Are you crazy? I don't have any money!" he denied, not wanting to be submissive. "And if I did, I don't even know you!"_

"_My name is Cookie." He gestured to his left, to a much taller guy. "His name's Orc. We don't wanna hurt you, man, but we will if you don't give us the money."_

"_I don't have any money!"_

_Grabbing his shirt, then twisting it, Cookie pushed him against the wall. "Give me the money. I'm not dumb, I saw you paying for your lunch earlier. There was more money in your pocket."_

_Howard gave Cookie a push, then tried to run out of the bathroom door, but Cookie grabbed his hood and he felt himself fall to the ground hard._

"_Hold his arms down, will you, Orc?"_

_He felt the big kid named Orc firmly hold his arms back, so he couldn't resist. He tried to kick, but his legs couldn't reach Cookie, who was already digging in his pockets. He kicked some more, but Cookie already had the money._

"_Let's go, man," Orc said. _

_The two of them began to head out of the bathroom, but Howard jumped to his feet and yelled, "Hey, stop!" He ran after them and grabbed Cookie's arm. "Give me my money back!" Cookie whirled around, then punched Howard in his right eye. Howard fell down again. He got up slowly, but didn't bother to go after them again._

_After feeling that punch, he knew that if he went after them, he would just get hit again. Howard had practiced shadowboxing a few times, thinking that, when the day came for his first fist-fight, he'd be ready._

_Ashamed, Howard stood up again, then headed to class, amazed at how wrong he had been._

* * *

><p>"I guess this is the part where we head into the dark, creepy, haunted mine shaft, fight the big monster at the bottom, and become heroes, huh?" Howard said. "It's just too bad Brianna's gonna miss it."<p>

"Yeah, sucks for her," Sam agreed. He stopped walking, then turned around, facing the others. "Caine, Howard, Orc, be ready. We don't know what's waiting for us. Now would be a good time to have that gun ready, Howard."

Howard nodded. He never really liked Sam, but there was no genuine rivalry. Most times, he and Sam could get along without any problems.

With Brianna gone, the four prepared themselves as they stepped into the entrance of the mine shaft. Even with the sky completely dark, the mine shaft still looked incredibly darker.

Orc and Howard both heard the rumors about what people called the "Gaiaphage". It supposedly lived at the bottom of the mine shaft and had supernatural abilities; being daring as he was, Orc wanted to see if the rumors were really true. Howard knew they probably were, but wanted to tag along anyway. He loved adventure.

After descending into the shaft for a few seconds, Sam lit up his palms to provide them a source of light. He took a step back when he saw what was standing in front of him, but stood firm, not showing fear. "I guess it's good that I lit my palms when I did. Otherwise, I wouldn't get to see your beautiful face, best friend."

Drake smiled evilly. "We're gonna make a deal." He paused, looking to the right and locking eyes with Caine. "Or you're all gonna die."

* * *

><p><em>Weeks had gone by; Howard never got his money back. As a matter of fact, they took his money a few more times. The third time, he learned not to bring money to school anymore. If it would just get taken, what was the point? It had just surprised him because he didn't think the bully-takes-lunch-money-from-kid scenario existed anymore.<em>

_Howard was on his way home, walking on the sidewalk, when he saw the boy named Orc getting yelled at by a grown man on—Howard assumed—the lawn of his own house. The man was a few inches shorter than Orc, but it was obvious he put fear in the boy._

"_You wanna cuss at the teacher, boy?" the man slurred. It wasn't until then that Howard noticed the beer bottle in the mans hand. "You ain't tough. You're just another scared little coward."_

_Orc turned his head sideways and locked eyes with him briefly. Howard could tell he was extremely embarrassed about what was going on._

"_Stop, Dad, people are gonna call the cops on you," Orc whispered, barely audible from where Howard was. "Here, I'll help you back inside." He lightly touched his Dad's arm and motioned towards the front door._

"_Don't put your hands on me, damn it!" his dad ordered, pushing him down. Orc fell hard on his butt._

_Howard had seen enough; he opened the gate and stepped a little closer to the scene. "Hey, don't push him like that, sir. Child Protective Services will get involved. Your son's right. That's no way to act in public."_

_Orc's father turned to him, smiled, and laughed. "Who the hell are you? You're his short, shrimp friend or what? You don't got an ounce of muscle on you."_

_At first, Howard wanted to walk away and mind his own business; after all, this _was _kid who had helped Cookie take his money. But, for some reason, Howard couldn't just walk away. "I don't care! Leave him alone or I'll make you! Don't you dare put your hands on a kid!"_

_The dad yanked Orc up by his shirt collar, then shoved him toward Howard. Orc was incredibly big, so it caused them both to fall down. "You're right, little boy. They'll call the cops. You want him? You can take him. Long as I don't go to jail, I'm all right. Now get the hell off my lawn."_

_Both Orc and Howard stood up. Orc was looking down at the ground, or at his shoes, Howard couldn't tell._

"_Find some place to stay, too, my pussy of a son," his dad shouted. "Looks like you're gonna be sleeping on the streets tonight. So, go suck and jack your little boyfriend off."_

"_He can stay at my place, sir," Howard shouted. He motioned for Orc to start walking away from that unstable household. "Have a good day."_

_Orc's dad laughed, then turned and headed back inside, shouting over his shoulder to them as he did. "Make sure you cum, too! I bet my pussy son, Orc, wants you to cum real hard in him! Whatever, see you two in hell!"_

_Howard and Orc walked side by side for the first time. Little did they know, that was the day they became best friends for life._

* * *

><p>Drake yanked Brianna up by her hair. She had barely regained consciousness, so wasn't up for much of a fight. He wrapped the whip arm around her neck, but not tight enough to choke her. "If you start to piss me off, I'll choke the shit out of you, little bitch."<p>

"I'll kill you!" Brianna rasped. "Just watch!"

He knew that Brianna was his only advantage, so he ignored her. The old Drake wouldn't care about playing cards right, he would act on impulse, but the Gaiaphage wouldn't accept that behavior. The Darkness taught him you reached success by strategy.

"Is that you, Drake?" The voice belonged to Nerezza. He squinted and saw Nerezza, Penny, and Turk walking toward him. "The Gaiaphage sent us to tell you what we have to do."

"Oh, yeah?" Drake questioned. "Did he tell you I have the bitchy, female version of the Flash?"

Nerezza rolled her eyes. She never found Drake's jokes funny, but it wasn't like she could; she had virtually no sense of humor. "Yes, he did," Nerezza answered. "Listen, he told us that we need to make a trade; we'll give Brianna back, if they give us Sam or Caine. If not—"

There was a bright light not too far away, in front of them that cut her off. It was green fire that lit up Sam Temple's palms. "I guess it's good that I lit my palms when I did. Otherwise, I wouldn't get to see your beautiful face, best friend."

Drake smiled evilly. "We're gonna make a deal." He paused, looking to the right and locking eyes with Caine. "Or you're all gonna die."

"Four against four, Drake," Sam pointed out. "We came prepared. We aren't afraid of you either."

"You're not?" Drake laughed. "We both know I'm your worst nightmare. And, unless you really want blood to be shed, you're gonna accept the deal."

Sam pondered for a moment, then nodded. "Okay, what is it?"

"We'll give you Cassandra and Brianna back, if you come with us, Sam," Nerezza interrupted them. "That's the only way we all can walk away happy."

"Happy?" Caine demanded. "What do you mean? You don't even have my baby with you, you stupid bitch! I'm not fucking dumb!"

Howard leaned over to Caine. "Don't worry, man. I'll get your daughter back."

Before anybody could say anything else, Howard shoved past all of them, pulled his gun from his belt, and began to fire.

* * *

><p><em>Orc laughed as they walked. "I bet I seem like a punk, huh?"<em>

"_Nah, I know you're not a punk," Howard said. "I would be scared, too, if there was a grown man in my face like that."_

* * *

><p>Everything seemed to jump into action the moment that Howard opened fire. The first bullet was supposed to hit Drake, but he ducked down, and it caught Penny right in her left shoulder.<p>

Penny became enraged, shrieking. The moment she felt the bullet hit her shoulder, thousands of dark figures crowded the room. Howard told himself they were just illusions, at first, but then they all drew in on him. The way they laughed was pure evil. They were just shadows, but somehow they began to choke him.

Caine was hesitant on who he should attack first; it wasn't safe to attack Drake because he had Brianna in front of him. So, anything aimed in Drake's direction would also hit her.

Before he could decide, he saw Turk incredibly close to him, a knife in his hand. Turk made a stab-motion to Caine's face, but Caine grabbed Turk's hands. The two of them fell to the ground, Turk on top of Caine, still trying to stab him.

"You wanna make me your little bitch? Your little servant?" Turk yelled. "I'll show you a little bitch!" He pushed harder and harder. Caine pushed against his hands with all his might and finally gathered up enough force to use his power; Turk flew all the way up to the top of the mine shaft and came down hard, his body slamming on the ground.

"Let her go, Drake!" Orc had bellowed. "Let Brianna go now, or I'll whoop your ass again!"

Drake barked a laugh, then tightened his grip around Brianna's throat. Brianna squirmed and tried to fight, but as the seconds passed, her efforts grew all the more weak; her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she passed out yet again.

Throwing her body to the side, Drake grinned, looking at Sam and Orc, the only two who weren't fighting somebody. "Come and get me!"

Sam raised his palms as Orc charged toward him, but lowered them when he glanced to his left and saw what was happening.

Howard continued to fire wildly, but Nerezza sprung into action, shoving the gun out of his hand. The bullets flew everywhere and one hit Nerezza in her shin. She screamed out in rage.

Once she the gun was out of his hand and in her control, she aimed it right at his chest and pulled the trigger.

* * *

><p>"<em>Thank you, man," Orc said as he walked beside Howard. "I really appreciate what you did. I just wanna say I'm sorry for what I did to you. I'm not always a bully, sometimes, I just …" He trailed off, still looking at his shoes as they walked.<em>

"_It's all right, dude," Howard said. "As long as you stop, I accept your apology."_

* * *

><p>Instead of firing at Drake, Sam raised his palms and let the blast hit Nerezza. He felt odd, dizzy, as déjà vu kicked in; this was the second time he blasted her.<p>

As Orc and Drake engaged in yet another rematch, Sam ran over to assist Howard, who had blood pouring down his body from his chest. He pressed his hands down, on top of each other, trying to hold the blood in. "Stay with me, Howard. You can do this."

Brianna was past out, Penny was almost to the point—she had even stopped her illusion on Howard—Turk was on the floor, Caine was getting up from Turk's attack, and Howard was pretty much dying. Lisa was probably dead, considering that Drake had captured the Breeze and Lisa was nowhere around. The fact that so many people were hurt in a matter of a few seconds blew Sam away.

With Brianna knocked out, there was no, "Take him to Lana." Whoever got hurt had to live, or they had to die.

* * *

><p><em>Orc reached his left arm over and gave him a half-hug. "You know how we used to call you Howard the Coward? Well, you're not a coward. Even though I'm probably a thousand times stronger than you, you're a hero."<em>

* * *

><p>Drake danced around Orc, but stopped, pointing over to his right. "I think you better go assist your lover boy, Orc. Looks like he might need your help."<p>

Orc looked back and saw Sam with his hands pressed firmly over Howard's shoulder and almost felt like crying. "I'll get you, Drake. Just watch."

"Oh, I'll watch," Drake promised. "It will be good watching you cry over your dying friend."

Instead of trying to fight Orc when he turned his back, Drake really did enjoy watching as Orc took off to help his dying friend.

"Move, Sam!" Orc ordered. "I'll hold his chest. Try to wake Brianna up. When she wakes up, tell her to take him to Lana. Now!"

Howard mumbled softly as he eyelids grew smaller. "Orc, is that you, man?"

"Yeah, it's me," Orc replied, tears running down from his only human eye, not made out of gravel. "Don't die on me, man. Okay? Don't die on me!"

"Orc, I only have a few seconds left. I just wanna let you know I love you, man. Don't forget it."

"I won't," Orc said. "I promise. I love you, too, Howard. You're a hero, do you hear me? You're a hero."

"No, I'm not. I'm just Howard. I'm just … Howard." He groaned softly, then his breathing stopped.

Tears rolling down his eye, Orc moved his hands up to Howard's heart, then pressed again and again.

* * *

><p><em>Howard looked up at him, then smiled. "No, Orc. I'm not a hero."<em>

* * *

><p>After several seconds, Orc gave up, wrapping his arms around Howard's body, crying, holding him tightly. "I love you, man. I love you."<p>

FEAR


	25. TWENTY-FIVE

**TWENTY-FIVE|**

40 Hours, 17 Minutes

**SAM** DROPPED TO his knees, feeling utterly defeated and exhausted. Everything that was happening around him made him feel sick. Nerezza's burning body lit up the mine shaft and her screams made Sam's stomach knot. Turk's body lay still on the floor, a result from Caine slamming him against the ceiling of the mine shaft. Penny was also on the floor, passed out, holding her shoulder, trying to stop the blood. Brianna was knocked out on the floor because Drake had choked her earlier. And, the worst of them all, Caine stood behind Orc, who was sadly trying to revive Howard by pounding onto his chest. Even though Sam's team was in far better shape than Drake's, he felt he had lost because it was evident that Howard had died. Drake was the only person standing out of all his allies, laughing as he watched Orc mourn over the loss of Howard.

"Orc, stop pumping his chest," Caine said. "He's gone."

Giving up, Orc slumped forward and laid his head on Howard's chest, crying. "My best friend," Orc sobbed in a whisper. "Please, don't leave me. Please, please, please. Don't!"

A few feet away from the scene, Drake stopped laughing, realizing Nerezza's dire state. He ran over to her, taking his shirt off. With it, he managed to put the fire out. It took a second, but it worked. Nerezza moaned, the amount of pain now reduced with the extinguishing of the fire.

Although the battle seemed to be on pause for the moment, while both teams tried to regroup, Sam didn't want to risk being in the dark, fearing that Drake would capitalize. He let fire fly from his hands quickly. It set the walls of the mine shaft on fire and provided it with light.

Standing to his feet, Sam walked a little closer to Drake who was examining Nerezza's burns. Caine noticed and followed behind him. "Drake," Sam approached, "just give us Cassandra and we'll be on our way."

"Is that what you named her?" Drake asked, shooting a smile to Caine.

"Listen, Drake," Caine said. "Me, Sam, and Orc are all in fine condition. You're the only one on your little team left standing. We can kill you easily. So just give her to us. You have no chance."

Drake laughed. "_I _have no chance? Really? You don't know what you're talking about. I'm immortal, idiot! The Gaiaphage gave me immortality. I could kill every single one of you right now. Plus, Orc is too busy over there, crying like the pussy he is. Now, make a move. I've been waiting for this."

Caine stepped forward, but Sam stopped him. "No, Caine. Not yet. Let's at least try to come to an agreement."

_BAM! _A gun went off. Caine fell down.

* * *

><p><em>The school bus pulled out of the Perdido Beach School parking lot. It drove down Access Road, made a right onto Brace Road, then a quick left onto the highway. The bus filled with Perdido Beach teens were on their way to the Stefano Rey National Park for a field trip. Quinn Gaither and Sam Temple were in the row behind the bus driver.<em>

_ "I don't why we're going to Stefano Rey for a field trip. Almost every person in Perdido Beach has been there before," Quinn said._

_ "True," Sam agreed. "But at least we're hardly going to be doing any school work."_

_ Mr. Trentlake, Sam and Quinn's teacher, who sitting on the row beside them, joined in on the conversation. "That's right, Sam. If you really want to know why we're going here, Quinn, it's because our school is ahead of schedule as far as academics. This is kind of like a reward. Now, just remember that when you're staring out the window and not paying attention to the lesson, boys; hard work will be rewarded."_

_ "I will," Quinn said._

_ Suddenly, the bus driver in front of them started making noises._

_ "Are you okay up there?" Mr. Trentlake asked._

_ The bus driver gave a final grunt and then fell out of his seat, onto the floor. Everything was quiet for just a second, then when the bus started slowly swerving, they screamed. Sam hopped out of his seat, rushing to the steering wheel. He held it so it wouldn't swerve, then put his foot gently on the break, slowing it to a stop, and moving it to the side of the road. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed 911, explaining the situation._

_ It didn't take long for the situation to be cleaned up; the cops came, another school bus was sent to pick all the students and teachers up and drop them off at their residences._

_ As soon as he walked in the front door of his house, his mom grabbed him and hugged him. "Oh, Sam. I was so worried when I heard what happened. Mr. Trentlake called me and told me how you saved everyone. He told me you acted right away, without any hesitation. My boy, I'm so proud of you!"_

_ "Thanks, mom," Sam said, giving her a half-smile. "I'm gonna go lay down. I feel exhausted."_

_ "Get some rest. I'm sure you need it. Oh, and the news wants to interview you tomorrow. How does that sound?"_

_ Noticing that his mom looked excited, Sam resisted saying no. "Okay, Mom. I guess that's fine."_

_ Sam went up to his room, lay down, and thought about what had happened. He felt good about himself. He was happy that he was able to save everyone, even if none of those people cared about him._

_ "I just hope the bus driver didn't die," Sam said to himself._

* * *

><p>Turk got off the floor as quickly as he could. There was strong pain in his back. He closed his eyes shut as he got to his feet. He looked around, saw Orc kneeling over Howard, crying, and Sam and Caine standing face-to-face with Drake. He took a single step forward and stopped when he felt his shoe touch the gun. He bent over, picked it up, and smiled as he took aim at Caine's leg.<p>

The gun jerked in his hand as the bullet went flying from it, crashing into the back of Caine's leg. "Ah!" he cried out and fell to the ground, his leg giving out on him.

"Oh, shit," Sam said, quickly bending down to observe his wound.

Drake gave Turk a thumbs up, turned his attention to Sam, and swung his tentacle arm at Sam's head. Sam slammed onto the ground, blood already spilling from the cut.

"Looks like they're both passed out. Turk, go help Penny up. A shot to the shoulder isn't all that bad. She'll be okay enough to help us. Tell her to carry Nerezza since she's the lightest, I'll carry Sammy boy, and you'll carry Caine. The Gaiaphage is going to be proud of us once he sees how big we've scored."

"Yeah, he will."

"Anyway, go help Penny. I'll take care of Brianna and Orc."

"Okay."  
>Drake walked over to Orc slowly. "Hey, Orc. Looks like Nerezza got to Howard. Don't worry, though. I don't like that slut either."<p>

"Shut the hell up!" Orc bellowed, standing up to stare into Drake's cold eyes. "Don't think for one second that I'm gonna forget all about you and attack Nerezza. It looks like she's dead anyway. So, right now, you're the one I want."

Before he could reply, Orc swung his giant, solid fists in Drake's direction. Drake ducked Orc's punches and whipped his tentacle arm at Orc. "Stop it, you stupid ass motherfucker."

"No, not until you die!" Orc screamed. He continued his attack, but his heavy hands made him too slow.

"Look, Orc. The battle is over. Go home, get help for Howard. Take Brianna with you. I'll take Sam and Caine. You're already defeated, Orc. There's no way you are going to do anything but get yourself killed.

Orc stopped. "All right. I'm gonna take Brianna and get Howard healed. After I do that, I'm going to come back and I'm going to kill you myself. Do you hear me, Drake? I'm going to kill you."

Drake winked. "I'll be waiting."

Holding his anger back, Orc turned around and walked over to Brianna. He threw her over his shoulder, then did the same with Howard, as if they were as light as a towel. He exited the mine shaft, feeling extremely angry.

Although Orc knew that Howard had no chance of being revived, he started to run, desperate to get to Town Hall as quickly as he could.

* * *

><p>With Orc gone, taking Howard and Brianna with him, Sam and Caine unconscious, Drake had zero threats at the moment. Now all he had to do was take Sam and Caine to the Gaiaphage and all of his tasks would be fulfilled. Penny carried Nerezza, Turk carried Caine, and Drake carried Sam, just as planned. They headed down the mine shaft, to the Darkness.<p>

"You know, carrying Nerezza with one arm isn't easy," Penny complained. "I'm shot in my fucking shoulder and here I am, carrying a person with one arm. It's hard as hell. I can't believe you're making me do this shit, Drake."

"Shut up already," Drake snapped. "Ever since we left, you won't stop talking about how hard it is. Turk is struggling to carry Caine, but you don't hear him complaining. I saw how hard he hit the top of the shaft, I'm sure he's in pain right now, too."

"Well, I'm taking a break. My arm that's not shot is numb now!" Penny pouted.

Drake spun on his heels, walked up to Penny, then with his tentacle arm, snatched Nerezza's body by her waist. "I'll carry both of them, you whiny ho."

They continued the rest of their walk in silence. Turk was putting in a lot of effort, ignoring the desire to drop Caine and rest his back. Drake pushed on, working his muscles to the limit, carrying Sam over his shoulder and holding Nerezza with his tentacle arm. He wasn't made out of rock like Orc was, so this was no easy task.

"Who the fuck is that?" Drake demanded. A girl who looked to be about 10 years old was standing at the end of the mine shaft, where the Gaiaphage usually was. Fire similar to Sam's lit up the cave walls around her.

**Author's Note: I know it's been a long time since I've updated - the last time I added a chapter was Chapter 24, on January 3, 2013. That's 363 days ago - but I decided I want to keep this story going. There's been a LOT going on since I last updated, which is why I have't been able to write anything new. I apologize to all of my readers who spent a lot of time reading this story and I'm determined to make sure your time was not wasted. I was going to add three chapters as a little surprise to you guys on Christmas, but the site was down. Either way, I wish you all a Happy New Years, my awesome readers!**

_**FEAR**_


	26. TWENTY-SIX

**TWENTY-SIX|**

38 Hours, 52 minutes

**ORC **WAS TIRED beyond words. His legs ached, his heart pounded, his face felt numb because of all his crying. He'd never felt so weak in his entire life. He had cried in front of everyone during an important fight, but he couldn't help it: Howard was like his other half. Most of their time was spent together. It all felt surreal. Him running as fast as his legs could allow him with Brianna and Howard on his shoulders, him hunched over, crying while several teens tried to kill each other. But his stress and sorrow could ease a little bit now because he _finally –_ his trip here seemed to take forever – reached Town Hall.

Jack and Dekka were standing in front of the double doors of Town Hall, as Sam had instructed them to. "Jack, Dekka," Orc gasped. They immediately rushed to aid him. Jack grabbed Brianna and Dekka grabbed Howard.

"What the hell happened?" Jack demanded, holding Brianna tight in his arms.

"Get them to Lana," Orc said. "I'll tell you in there."

Jack and Dekka rushed inside Town Hall, Orc staggering behind them. Everyone who was seated in the Town Hall meeting room turned their heads to see what was going on. Some stood up and followed, crowding around them, interested in what the matter was.

Lana had been sitting in the front row out of several in the Town Hall meeting room, but she was already headed towards them because she knew they were coming to her anyway.

"They're hurt, right? Follow me. Dahra's in an office right down the hall. We were expecting someone to get hurt, so we're prepared."

They passed the church-like benches – where everyone stranded in Town Hall because of the darkness – were sitting, then went to the left, exiting the meeting room. They continued straight down the corridor and entered the third door – out of many – on their left.

"This is it," Lana said, turning the door handle and guiding them inside the little nurse-like room. "Set them down on one of the beds. Dahra is probably in the back. I'll go get her."

Lana went to the back room of the office. There, she found Dahra lying down on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. "Brianna and Howard look like they're in bad condition. Jack and Dekka carried them to the office. They're in the front of the room, laying on the beds."

Dahra sighed, getting to her feet and following Lana to the front of the office. "I was waiting for something bad to happen."

When they got to the beds, Lana and Dahra each pulled up a rolling chair. Lana evaluated Brianna and Dahra did the same to Howard.

"Now is the time to tell us what happened," Dahra said.

"I guess Drake got a hold of Brianna. He choked her, she passed out," Orc explained. "Howard, well, Nerezza shot him in the chest. He started coughing blood up like crazy. I tried to help him by holding the wound, but –"

Lana interrupted, "Okay, got it, Orc. Go lay in the back. There's another bed back there. Get some rest. We'll take care of them."

After Orc left to the back of the nurse's office, Dahra inquired, "How does Brianna look?"

"She looks fine," Lana answered. "There's no cuts or anything like that. I'm assuming she just passed out from a lack of oxygen. Her heart beat is at a normal pace now. She's okay."

"I wish I could say the same about Howard. He's long gone. No heart beat. I think he bled out … What a horrible way to die."

"Yeah," Lana agreed. "Nobody in the FAYZ has really had a peaceful death."

* * *

><p><em>The bell rang, signaling school had ended. The students at Perdido Beach School filed out in a hurry, most of them headed in the same direction; the alley right down the street from the school. They were all talking excitedly, betting on who was going to win the upcoming fight. On the one hand, Orc was the huge guy everybody in the school feared – or, almost everybody. Ray obviously wasn't too scared of Orc if he was going to show up to the fight – but on the other hand, Ray was seemingly fearless and confident to not have backed down from Orc.<em>

_ Howard was right by Orc's side, hyping him up as they walked towards the location the fight was supposed to take place. "You got this, Orc. This guy just wants to act tough."_

_ "You better have my back, Howard. If you're my friend, you'll get him, too. I would help if someone was disrespecting you."_

_ They turned into the alley where a dozen kids were standing on the sides. Ray was standing in the middle of the alley, watching Orc as he came closer._

_ "You still wanna fight, or what?" Ray queried._

_ Orc was now right in front of him. Howard had moved to the side with all the people. "Look, man. We ain't even gotta fight. You showed me you got balls, so you got my respect."_

_ "All right."_

_ "Shake on it," Orc said._

_ Ray extended his hand and Orc shook it. Ray turned around and, as soon as he turned, Orc rushed at him, shoving him down with all his strength. He was on Ray in a flash. He punched him quickly and as hard as he could. To his surprise, Ray pushed him off. To push Orc off that easily was impressive._

_ Orc and Ray got to their feet swiftly. They both put their hands up, but before anything else could happen, Howard ran at him from behind. He punched Ray at the back of his head and he went stumbling towards Orc. Orc hit him with an uppercut, knocking him down. They both kicked him while he was down. Orc took a step back and ran at him full speed, booting his head. Ray fell flat on his back, knocked out, blood spilling from his nose and mouth, bruises on his face._

_ "Still wanna fight?" Orc shouted. "Didn't think so."_

_ Police sirens were close, so Howard and Orc jetted down the alley as quickly as they could, going to Orc's house for safety._

* * *

><p>Orc was lying where Dahra had been lying for only five minutes when Dahra and Astrid came in the room.<p>

"Howard was dead far before we got him," Dahra said. "I'm sorry to tell you that, but I know you want to make sure. Lana told me to leave you alone. I just had to let you know." She paused, exhaling stress. "I'll leave you alone now, Orc. I'm sorry for your loss." She turned around and left the small section of the nurse's office in Town Hall.

Astrid came and sat in the chair by the bed. "These beds look exactly like the ones that were in the nurse's office at school."

"Yeah, they do," Orc agreed.

"On a serious note, I don't agree with Lana and Dahra that you should be left alone. I think you should talk about it. Express how you're feeling. Holding everything in isn't good."

"I don't like talking about emotions and stuff," Orc said. "Only girls do that. Words are just words, anyway. Talking won't change things."

"Girls usually are the ones having heart-to-heart conversations, but that doesn't mean that's how it should be. Guys have emotions, too. Especially you, Orc. We both know that."

"Why do you think that?"

"Because I know you," Astrid responded. "Remember when we always used to hang out? Remember when I used to tutor you for school? Well, I learned a lot about you during those tutoring sessions. One of the biggest things I found out was that you hide your emotions. You hide the real you. Yeah, you were always big, bad, tough Orc, but when you were around me, you weren't all that mean. You seemed pretty cool and laid back."

Orc rolled his eyes. "All right. Let's get this over with. What all do you want to know?"

"I want to know how you're feeling right now. I guarantee once you tell me you'll feel a lot better."

"How do you know that?"

"I know because I was just like you. I always hid my emotions. Especially after what I did to Petey. I think about it every second. I held everything in and do you know what eventually happened? I couldn't take it. My heart would get so filled with hurt that I would just burst out crying. Sam thought I was going crazy. It might have seemed random, but it wasn't. Once I really started letting everything out to him and some others, I felt better. I let everyone know how I felt, and I don't know … It just made me feel better."

"All right. Well … I'm sad. Real sad. And mad. At myself. For letting him go along with us. Howard can be brave when he needs to be. He's just a lot smaller than me. He's not as strong either. I should have known he would get hurt. It's because of me that he's dead. It's my fault!"

Astrid shook her head. "No, it's not. How would you have known what was going to happen? You're not half-psychic like Orsay."

"You don't even know. I made Howard the way he is. He was a good person. I made him think the way I do. He always loved me and I used that to my advantage. I knew I could persuade him to do things. We've beat people up, stolen their money, phones, all that. Then, when the FAYZ came, I got scared and I just went crazy and I killed that one girl and ever since then, I realized all the bad things I've done. I don't want Howard to go to hell because of what we did."

"You're a good person, Orc. Don't feel that way."

"Maybe I am now, but what about all those things I did? I killed someone. I was just so scared. I was always scared someone would hit me like my dad would. It made me feel better to have control over people. It made up for not being able to control my dad. The beatings he gave me, I gave them to other people."

"Well, you've changed now," Astrid said. "I know you have."

Tears started strolling down Orc's cheeks. "Those things I did can never leave my mind. It makes me think about how I was acting just like my dad to other people. I always felt like I never had a dad, I didn't have a mom, I didn't have anything. Not a girlfriend, parents, money, education, nothing. Nothing except Howard and God. It makes my heart hurt and the pain is too much to handle. I just want to die, Astrid. I just want to die."

Sympathy for Orc hit Astrid hard. She grabbed him and hugged him. His body trembled from the tears and pain his body was letting out. She couldn't hold in her own pain and before she knew it, she was lying her head on his, shutting her eyes, sobbing uncontrollably, just like him. "You have me, Orc. I'll always be here for you. I'm your friend."

* * *

><p>Cassandra cried and cried. Screamed, wailed, shrieked. The newborn was startled by what was happening to her. She didn't understand it a single bit. The Darkness grew in power, grew stronger and stronger as Cassandra grew older. What was once a baby an hour later was now a 10 year old girl.<p>

It was time.

The Gaiaphage finally entered her. She _became _her. The newborn's life no longer existed; she was replaced by the Gaiaphage.

_**FEAR**_


	27. TWENTY-SEVEN

**TWENTY-SEVEN|**

38 Hours, 7 Minutes

**THE **GAIAPHAGE WAITED for Drake, Penny, and Turk to set down the three incapacitated people they had captured to speak.

"Who am I, Drake? I am your leader, your commander, your God."

The three of them stood in amazement. Drake looked around her at the cave walls, which were lit by greenish flames. "You already made the transformation into the baby?"

"Yes."

"Shit. I missed it."

"Why do you look so young?" Penny asked.

The Darkness replied, "The aging process is one that requires time. Now that I'm actually in the body, it can move much quicker. Within ten minutes, I'll be my desired age; fifteen."

"Wow," Turk said. "You really are the greatest power there is. I knew it. Only you would be able to do something this great."

Drake said, "Nerezza got burned by Sam. She looks bad. Sam and Caine are okay. No major wounds or cuts, anything like that."

The Gaiaphage walked around Drake and went by the three who were lying on the floor. She knelt down to Nerezza and touched her. Within a few seconds, Nerezza's body began to shake, her eyes opened, and her burn marks quickly faded away. Her dark brown skin went back to being unblemished. She sat up, unable to take her eyes off of the Darkness. "Is that you, Gaiaphage?"

"Yes, it's me." She helped Nerezza up and then addressed all of her loyal servants. "From now on, I am to be called by my name, Cassandra. That is what this body was called, so it should be called that further."

Drake clapped his hands together. "Caine is gonna be pissed."

"As a matter of fact, we're going to talk to him and his brother right now."

* * *

><p><em>Caine knew talking to a counselor wasn't going to be fun. His parents had told him it would be a perfect opportunity to tell someone his feelings and find someone who could understand him. Now, as he lay down on the couch in the stupid counselor's office, he knew he shouldn't have even listened to his parents. He shouldn't have agreed to come here. He knew it was going to turn out bad, yet he still went.<em>

_ "Lay back, Caine. Relax. Close your eyes. Tell me why you think you are here to see me."_

_ "I don't know," Caine responded. "The list of things I've done that would earn me a counselor visit is too long for me to pick out one thing. So, go ahead and tell me what you're trying to get at."_

_ "Your parents told me that they've been told by many teachers that there are two main concerns they have with you: One, your thirst to be in control of things. Two, the fact that you just don't care about anything. You show no emotion to anyone or anything whatsoever."_

_ "Yep. Those two things are true. Since it seems that we are playing a game where we state facts, it's my turn. You look like Santa Claus, except being overweight fits him. It doesn't look good on you."_

_ The counselor shot him a slightly annoyed look, then adjusted himself back to a neutral expression. "You know these things are true. You want power and you don't care about anything. You're heartless. Is that correct?"_

_ "Yes, sir," Caine said. He winked at him and smiled big._

_ "Is that something you feel is worth smiling about, Caine?"_

_ "Do you see me smiling about it? Then, obviously I do."_

_ "Caine, do you want to know what I think? I –"_

_ "No, I don't want to know," Caine interrupted._

_ "–think that there's a reason why you're so rude and negative. I –"_

_ "I didn't know I was rude and negative. I guess my parents didn't lie when they said I would learn something new about myself during this counseling session."_

_ " –think that you could like to make people aggravated. But, most likely, you're doing that right now not only to try to provoke me, but to get me to stop trying to talk about emotions. To stop trying to figure you out. You don't like that, Caine Soren. You don't like the fact that someone might know your feelings."_

_ "Know my feelings? I'm heartless, right? Then how do I have feelings?"_

_ The counselor took his glasses off, sighed, and looked at Caine for a long moment. "You're a complex individual, Caine. I hope I can help you. If not, I feel very sorry for you."_

_ Caine stood up, angered. "Don't you feel sorry for me!" he exclaimed. "There's nothing to feel sorry for."_

_ He looked at the counselor for a moment. All of a sudden, the counselor flew back in his chair. Caine stormed out of the room._

_ "Feelings my ass," he muttered to himself as he left._

* * *

><p>When he woke up, the first thing Caine saw was an astonishingly beautiful young lady, around his age. To his right was his brother, Sam, and standing several feet behind the beautiful girl were Drake, Penny, Turk, and Nerezza. He and Sam traded confused looks.<p>

"I'd ask what's going on, but it looks like we're going to be sacrificed and burned at the stake," Caine said. "I mean, really. The walls are even glowing. Four stupid asses are standing right there, waiting. This could be in a movie."

Sam glared at Caine. "Save your jokes for later. This isn't the time, Caine."

Peeking around the only person he didn't know, Caine smiled and winked at Nerezza. "Hey, sweetheart. I could have sworn Sam burned your skin black. Not that it was very light to begin with."

"That's obviously been taken care of, _sweetheart_." Nerezza winked back.

"Enough," the mysterious girl said. "Sam, Caine, how are you two feeling?"

"I'm fine," Sam said. "Beside the fact that my arms are tied behind my back. There's also a gash in the back of my head."

"Same here," Caine agreed. "Oh, yeah. And the wound that I got from when that two-faced ass punk named Turk shot me."

"Wound?" The girl raised her eyebrow.

Caine gestured toward his leg with his head. "Yeah, right there. Behind my kneecap. Turk shot me. That's how I went down."

The girl glanced behind her at Penny, Turk, and Drake. "Didn't you say there weren't any major wounds on either of them, Drake?"

Drake said, "I didn't consider that a major wound. Besides, their dumb asses would have lived either way."

Caine shot him a pissed off look. Utilizing his telekinetic powers, he sent Drake flying into the cave wall behind him. He strained to do it again, but nothing happened. Caine felt his heart drop.

"Stop it, Caine," the girl said. "I don't want to have to focus on controlling your powers the entire time."

Astonished at the claim made by her, Caine just looked at her, puzzled, wondering exactly who she was. Sam was the one who had enough of the confusion. "All right. Who the hell are you and what do you mean, 'controlling your powers'?"

The girl smiled at Sam. "I'm your niece, Sam."

"W-w-what?!" Caine stammered. "Niece? I thought I was the only brother you had, Sam? Our mom must have kids running all over the place that we don't know about."

Before Sam could defend his mother, the girl spoke. "I'm your daughter, Caine. As you know, my name is Cassandra." She smiled at him.

Caine was baffled. "Bullshit! My daughter was just born. You are a teenager. I know I was out, but I'm pretty sure I wasn't out for that fucking long!"

Cassandra reached behind Caine, undoing the rope that bound his hands together, then did the same to Sam. "We all need to have a talk. Please, don't do anything to make me regret untying those ropes, or I'll put them back on."

"Okay, you have our word, now spill it!" Sam demanded.

"This is going to be a lot to be a lot to take in, so listen carefully; as we all know, Drake and Penny took Diana's baby girl. They brought her to the mine shaft and left her with the Gaiaphage. The Darkness, as you all call it, sped up the growth process to make itself older. So, call me whatever you want. Gaiaphage, Darkness, Cassandra, I'm still the same person. I'm still your daughter, Caine."

Sam put his head down, not wanting to see his brother's reaction. All Caine could do was stare at Cassandra with his mouth gaping open, not sure what to say. "You're … You're my daughter?"

"Yes, I am," Cassandra replied.

Caine opened his mouth to say something else, but his voice broke and he tried with all his might to keep the tears from falling. "Are you … the Gaiaphage? Or are you my daughter?"

"I've already explained," Cassandra said. "I'm kind of both. I have your daughters body and mind. But inside me, my soul is also what you call the Darkness. I'm both. And you're my dad."

"No, hell no," Sam muttered. This was the sickest, saddest thing Sam had ever heard. He knew not to trust Cassandra, but he didn't want to say that aloud. He couldn't even imagine how his brother was feeling.

"If you … If you're what you say you are, prove it. Surely, the Darkness can show me proof, as powerful as you're supposed to be."

Cassandra stepped forward and gently grabbed Caine's hands. She held them and stared into his eyes. Suddenly, Caine felt a strong tug at his heart and images that weren't there filled his vision. He saw Cassandra coming out of Diana, he saw her looking up at him when he held her for the very first time. He heard him and Diana arguing before he left, the last time he ever saw his baby girl.

"Stop," Caine said in a whiny, broken voice. Tears fell from his eyes uncontrollably, but he didn't care. He embraced his daughter and hugged her tight. His heart felt so soft, like it was tingling. He knew that this was true love. All his life, he had felt like a heartless person and now, well, now he finally felt love. This was _his _daughter and he held her, already wanting no one to take her away from him.

Pulling away from him, Cassandra continued what she had to say. "There's a lot more that I need to tell the both of you. I know you think I'm a monster and –"

"And nothing!" Sam yelled. "Whether Caine likes it or not, I don't trust you for anything. I don't know exactly how, I'm certain you have a big part to do with the FAYZ. You're a murderer. So many people I love, so many innocent _children _have died in this place and it's because of you! I know you have something to do with this! You're the one trapping us in this damn dome!"

"Listen, both of you," Cassandra ordered. "You're both aware that I'm powerful. Yes, I am. As a matter of fact, I'm so powerful, I've influenced you since you were very young. You see, there's an evil force that's coming soon. A very, very evil force. A demon. And, I, as an angel, must fight this evil force. So, I've recruited the help of some of you. Caine, you're special. You were one of my handpicked soldiers. As for Sam, I can't say the same for you. I want you to take part of the good side in this war, but I didn't expect for you to become the hero you are today. I'm proud of you and I'm even more proud to have you here, Sam."

Sam held his hand up. "You might be able to fool my brother, but you won't fool me. Just save it."

"It's true, Sam!" Cassandra argued. "I've been watching you. Those fantasies you have sometimes? Those extremely lustful fantasies are just fantasies. The thing between you and Quinn, that never happened. It was all in your imagination. Do you know why? Because the evil force to come planted that in your brain. It's the work of the devil! He's trying to encourage these evil, sinful thoughts."

Sam laughed. "Now I know you're insane. There's no such thing as a devil and there's no such thing as a god. You're full of it."

"You know it's true, Sam. How else would I know about those lustful thoughts you have? And, Caine? You're special beyond words. Since the day you were born, you were meant to be a soldier. However, the Devil took that away from you. He made you emotionless. He controlled your thoughts your emotions, your life, everything. Don't you wonder what has recently made you see the light and become an ethical person? That's me. I have removed his hold of you and I've restored you back to the good-hearted person you were meant to be."

Both Sam and Caine were silent throughout Cassandra's self-proclaimed informative speech. They were both astonished by the claims she was making and, even more importantly, they were conflicted with whether or not this information was reliable. Could the Gaiaphage really be the good guy?

On the one hand, Sam thought this explained so many things. He wasn't gay, he had never been gay, never had gay thoughts, experiences, anything. Not until recently when he was suddenly remembering him and Quinn doing sexual things together. Sam wanted sex at times, but ever since the plague died down, his lust was extreme. What Cassandra was saying made sense, but he couldn't ignore the fact that the Gaiaphage was a bad guy. Right?

On the other hand, Caine also knew that Gaiaphage felt like an evil presence. The Darkness had haunted him at the beginning of the FAYZ. It felt like it was taking over his mind. Or was that really just the Devil or demon that Cassandra was talking about? It all made sense to him as well, it explained so many questions he had about life, but he had to be cautious.

"I don't believe you," Sam said. "I'll admit it, though; you're one hell of a good liar, Gaiaphage."

"Say that all of this is true. Okay. But how do you explain Drake, Turk, and Penny? Without a doubt, these might be the only three people in the FAYZ who can be as cold-blooded as me," Caine pointed out. "If you were on the good side, why would they be with you?"

Cassandra said, "All your questions will be answered in the end, I can guarantee that. But doesn't what I told you answer almost everything as it is?"

Caine couldn't pick one side on his internal debate. "Just let me think about it, okay?"

After that, they were all kind of silent. It was very surprising to Caine that Drake, Penny, Nerezza, and Turk had been so quiet. It was unspoken so far, but he knew that Cassandra must have done or told them something to have them obey her so much.

It was all overwhelming, to say the least. Everything got him to thinking about being a father. Monster or not, this was his daughter. A lot of what she said made sense. It explained so many questions he had throughout his life. He had gone around being so rude to others because he was mad that he seemingly could not feel any emotion. While everyone had love for their families, he didn't. He always knew that they weren't his real parents, but it didn't change the fact that they were good, loving people. Yet, for some reason, he could never love even them. Could it really have been the Devil all along causing him to be heartless? And, if it was, who was the Devil, or this demon Cassandra spoke of?

After the plague had ended, Caine had just out of nowhere started having feelings. He couldn't understand why. He tried the concept of karma, looked into religion, but it all just came as an excuse to him to try to explain why he changed. And, right here, his daughter had a perfect explanation to everything.

No matter what, Caine loved Cassandra. He watched her as she sat down at the end of the conversation, feeling so proud to have made her with Diana. She got her good looks from both of her parents, no doubt. There was just no way to explain how it felt to be a father.

When he found out that they had taken his baby, his heart felt like it was ripped into a million pieces. The whole trip to the mine shaft, he thought about Diana and Cassandra and how he had left them, walked out on them. It was all his fault that it had happened. There was just no other way around it. Diana had been beaten by this son of a bitch named Drake who dared to stand in the same area as him, smiling that stupid smile. No matter what, no matter who's side he was on, Caine would get his revenge on Drake. He might have been remaining calm at the moment, but the time would come.

Caine marveled at the fact that his daughter was living, breathing, walking, and talking in front of him right now. He just didn't want to lose her again. There was nothing that could even compare to the pain that it had caused him. His daughter and Diana were definitely the most important things in his life. He couldn't even bear the thought of hurting them again.

"So, guys," Cassandra said, interrupting his thoughts. "We are going to wait here for a while. I'm gonna treat my dad's wound, we'll get a lot of rest, then we'll head to Town Hall. Hopefully, we'll get all this clear and we can all band together and defeat the evil force that is to come."

Sam watched Cassandra give another one of her little speeches. She was a good actor and a good liar, he had decided. She had a hidden agenda for certain. It just didn't make sense for her to be okay with the fact that her parents had been hurt in the process just so she could mix with the Gaiaphage. He was really hoping Caine could see through her act, but if he didn't, he wouldn't let that change his mind on Cassandra.

If there was something Sam was certain of, it was that Cassandra was the best liar, the most deceitful person he had come across, and the hardest person he would ever have to take down.

_**FEAR**_


End file.
